There are many ways to talk about physical appearance.
Age
My grandfather is quite
old. In fact, as he has a pension, he is an
old age pensioner, or a
senior citizen.
His daughter, my aunt, is 55, and
middle-aged. She has three sons. One is a
young adult, at 24 years of age, and the other two are both
teenagers. They are 16 and 17. My sister also has two children – one
toddler who is a two-year old, and a
baby who is 6 months old.
Build
People are built in
all shapes and sizes. There are those who are
fat and
overweight. Some people are extremely overweight and are
obese. Other people are naturally
slim, but others look have absolutely no fat on them and are
thin, or
skinny.
Personally, I am
stocky –
small, but
well-built. My father is
tall and
lean – with very little fat. My sister is
short, but
wiry – she is quite thin, but
muscular. Both my brothers are
athletic and
well-proportioned. My mother looks like a 1940's film star. She is
curvaceous, with an
hour-glass figure.
My grandfather is
fit for his age and
takes plenty of exercise. He doesn't want all his muscles to get
flabby.
Colouring
My sister is an
English rose – she has
fair hair and
fair skin. She doesn't
tan easily and has to be careful in the sun. My mother is
blonde, also with a
fair complexion. I am a
red-head – with red hair. Like many other people with a
pale complexion, I get
freckles from the sun – small brown dots on my face and arms. In contrast, my father has
dark-brown hair and he is quite
dark-skinned. You are born with a colour –
white or
Caucasian,
black or
Asian. People whose parents are of different ethnic origin are
mixed-race. Southern Europeans are sometimes described as
Mediterranean.
Face
Faces, like build, vary a lot. Some people have
oval faces – their
foreheads are much wider than their
chins. Other people have
heart-shaped, square or
round faces.
Features also vary. My grandfather has
bushy eyebrows (he has lots of hair!), a
hooked nose and
high cheekbones. His eyes are large and
set quite far apart. My mother has a
broad nose, which she hates, as she prefers
narrow noses. But she is lucky to have
even or
regular teeth. My sister corrected her
crooked teeth by wearing a brace which straightened them. She has
rosy cheeks, small ears and a
snub nose, which goes up at the end.
I have
long, curly hair, though my sister is the opposite, with
short, straight hair. Her hair is
fine and doesn't weigh very much, but mine is
thick and
heavy. My mother's hair is
wavy – in between straight and curly. It's cut in
a bob and she also has a short
fringe, where it is cut horizontally across her forehead. My father is
losing his hair – in fact he is
going bald, which makes him very sad. My brother looks like he is going to lose his hair too – it is
receding.