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PAPER 5, Part 1
Describing People
The first steps in improving your FCE mark is to focus on vocabulary.

Circle which words you believe are stronger or less common.

strong

Muscular

clever

Smart

tiny

Small

thin

Slender

nice

Generous

elderly

old

hard-worker

Dedicated

healthy

athletic

fat

Obese

dependable

Helpful

conservative

Shy

heroic

Brave

happy

Content

talented

Dynamic

People you may have to describe:

Spouse

Siblings

half-brother

sisters-in-law

Fianc

Cousins

Stepbrother

Hero

Neighbor

Offspring

sports star

Singer

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Mind

Body

Behaviour

When you are asked to describe someone, you should focus on three areas:
mind, body, and action.
Example: Please describe your mother-in-law.
Sample answer:
My mother-in-law is clever, slim, and often gossips with our neighbours.

If you cannot find synonyms to replace the word, add adjectives or adverbs
instead.
Example:
He is tall.
He is quite tall. soft voice
He is extremely tall. strong voice
He is outrageously tall. showing shock or amazement

Note: Do not choose vocabulary words which are too difficult to pronounce!

The next step is to improve coherence and cohesion. Can you explain your
ideas and link sentences to increase understanding and rhythm? Look at the
following sentence:
My mother-in-law is clever, slim, and often gossips with our neighbours.
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There are three ideas:

a. clever
b. slim
c. gossip

You must be able to state your idea and support your ideas by explaining or
giving examples:
Idea support
Example:
My mother is clever. For example, she was able to fix my motorbike without using any tools.

Next, link other ideas:

idea support link new idea support
Example:
My mother is clever. For example, she was able to fix my motorbike without using any tools. In
addition, she is quite slim for a Vietnamese girl. An average girl in Vietnam weighs around
45kilos; however, my dear mom is around 30 kilos. Interestingly, she often gossips with our
neighbours. They often talk about shopping and complain about their husbands.

Use the following vocabulary to do the task below:

attractive
optimistic
Selfish

polite
arrogant
get along with

generous
pessimistic
look up to

You could also use vocabulary from your book or the other table.

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Exercise 1: Describe a family member you often spend time with.

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Exercise 2: Describe one of your cousins.

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Use the following vocabulary to do the task below:

seem

appear

may/might

would

could

must

Exercise 3: Describe this person.

Example:
This individual appears to be quite strange. For instance, he has a frightening smile. Also, I
dont know anyone that would stand in such a way.

Your answer:
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PAPER 5, Part 2
Describing people
celebration
joyful
seem
appear
may
content
slender/slim
tiny
obese

Exercise 4: Describe the people in the photo using the word box.
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Exercise 5: Describe these photos using the word box.

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