Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

Talking about
Con este material podrán aprender y practicar vocabulario y expresiones básicas en
inglés para hablar sobre el aspecto físico y la personalidad de una persona.
Lean con atención las explicaciones y completen todos los ejercicios propuestos para
poner en práctica los nuevos temas. Pueden utilizar diccionario o las herramientas
recomendadas en la carpeta “material complementario” de nuestra aula.
Al finalizar, envíen su trabajo por Virtualnet, en el espacio de la tarea.

Students name: Julio albeiro Fernandez Date: ____________

Review: “to be” + “to have”

Before completing the exercises, let’s review the conjugation for these two verbs in English.

AFFIRMATIVE STRUCTURE:
PERSONAL PRONOUN I You – We – They He – She – It
TO BE am are is

TO HAVE have have has

NEGATIVE STRUCTURE:
PERSONAL PRONOUN I You – We – They He – She – It
TO BE am not are not is not

TO HAVE don't have don’t have doesn’t have

INTERROGATIVE STRUCTURE:
PERSONAL PRONOUN I You – We – They He – She – It
TO BE Am I? Are you? Is he?

TO HAVE Do I have? Do you have? Does she have?

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Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

As we can see, these verbs are irregular, it means that we need to memorize the
conjugation for each personal pronoun. BUT it’s easy because there are only:
 2 forms for “to have” = have and has
 3 forms for “to be” = am, is and are

She is Jane. She is a girl and she is 8

years old. She has a mirror in her
hands and she has a ribbon in her
hair.

He is Tim. He is a boy and he is also 8 years

old. He has a red jacket and he also has a
ribbon in his neck.

They are happy because they have a

beautiful family.

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Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

IMPORTANT:
As shown in the examples, we use these two verbs for
 showing the existence of something or someone,
 describing a reality, and also
 giving the details of people or things we’re talking about.
Their use is very similar in Spanish and English, but not all the expressions are the
same in Spanish or English. So we need to pay attention when we want to
communicate something new.
For example: In Spanish we say our age using “to have” (Jane tiene 8 años) BUT In
English we use “TO BE” (Jane is 8 years old).

1. To be or to have?
1.1 Complete the sentences with the correct verb and conjugation (5pts).

a) We have hungry.
b) My mom has two children.
c) It has a beautiful house.
d) Mary _______ 25 years old.
e) You _______ a dog.

1.2 Write positive or negative sentences according to your opinion or the

situation. Use “to have” and “to be” affirmative and negative forms (5pts).

a) Paris / the capital of France. Paris is the capital of France

b) I / interested in sports. I’m not interested in sports.
c) Rome / in Spain. ____________________________________________
d) Dogs / two legs. The dogs doesn’t have
e) Colombia / the best coffee _________________________________
f) My mom / pets. ____________________________________________
g) A tiger / big animal. _________________________________________

1.3 Complete the next questions with the correct verb and after answer them
with YOUR OWN personal information (5pts).

a) What ____ your name?

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Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

_____________________________________
b) How old ____ you?
_____________________________________
c) Where ____ your family from?
______________________________________
d) ____ you single?
______________________________________
e) What ____ your profession?
______________________________________

2. Physical description
WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE?
¿CÓMO SE VEN? (apariencia física)

He is Sam.
He is Charles.
He is brawny and he
has strong arms. He is He is slim. His arms
tall. are thin. He is tall.
Sam has short, straight His hair is long, wavy
and fair hair. and fair.

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Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

IMPORTANT:

The question “what does he look like?” asks us to describe the physical features of a
person. We need to talk about his or her PHYSICAL APPEAREANCE.
Attention to the grammar and the use of verbs. Let’s watch carefully the sentences
and look at the differences:

“Sam has strong arms” OR “his arms are strong”

(“Sam tiene brazos fuertes” O “sus brazos son fuertes”)
,

“Charles has long, wavy and fair hair” OR

“his hair is long, wavy and fair”
(“Charles tiene cabello largo, ondulado y claro”
O “su cabello es largo, ondulado y claro”)

As we see, we can use the verbs “to be” and “to have” for describing physically a
thing or a person. As in Spanish, it depends on what we want to say and how we
want to say it.

Keep that in mind for the next exercises 

2.1 Look up in the dictionary the meaning of the words in boxes. Attention:
you don’t have to copy the meanings here. Write them in your own notebook.

Height (verb to be):

Tall – short – average height

Build (verb to be): Skin

Slim – slender –anorexic (medical) thin (verb to be or to have):
(negative) – skinny (negative) White – black – dark skinned

Fat (negative) – overweight – plump Dark skin – fair skin – tanned skin –
(neutral) – bonny. pale skin

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Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

Hair (verb to have): Hair (verb to be):

Blonde/fair hair – brown hair – red hair – Blonde – brunette – redhead –
black hair – grey hair. grey-head – bald

Type of hair Eyes (verb to have):

(verb to have or to have):
Brown eyes – dark eyes – grey eyes –
Short – long – medium length green eyes – blue eyes
Straight – wavy – curly

Others (verb to have): Others (verb to be):

Moustache – beard – mole – Beautiful – good looking – handsome - not very

freckle – scar – bags under the good looking – ugly – happy – sad – tired – sick –
eyes … etc. healthy – young – old … etc.

After you understand these words, choose three different images and
describe peoples’ physical appearance. Use the appropriate vocabulary and the
correct conjugation of verbs “to be” and “to have” (9pts).

A) B) C)

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Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

D) E) F)

Image: … Image: … Image: …

Description: … Description: … Description: …

3. People’s personality
WHAT ARE THEY LIKE?
¿CÓMO SON? (personalidad)

Charles is pessimistic
Sam is optimistic but he but he is very
is not diligent at school. intelligent. He is a
He is a kind boy. hardworking student.

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Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

IMPORTANT:

The question “what is he like?” asks us to describe the personal features of a person.
We need to talk about his or her PERSONALITY.
As we need to describe characteristics, we use adjectives with the verb “to be”. For
very simple sentences, we use the structure:
subject + verb + adjective

Charles is intelligent
“Charles es inteligente”

But! If we want to say something more “complex”, we can use:

subject + verb + indefinite article + adjective + noun

He is a kind boy
“Él es un chico amable”

*Remember that adjectives are always before the noun: a kind boy, big dogs, etc.
And, if we want to say several things about someone, we can say: “He is a happy,
active and smart person”.

Keep that in mind for the next exercises 

3.1 Look up in the dictionary the meaning of the words in boxes. Attention:
you don’t have to copy the meanings here. Write them in your own notebook.

Adjectives (verb to be)

Positive: polite, careful, thoughtful, generous, optimistic, patient, courageous, cooperative,

honest, compassionate, friendly, funny, forgiving, humble, responsible, romantic, smart…
Negative: rude, clumsy, lazy, selfish, pessimistic, impatient, coward, arrogant, dishonest,
evil, forgetful, envious, jealous, lonely, mischievous, pitiful, shy, sad, disrespectful,
stubborn…

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Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

After you understand these words, look at the people and describe their
personality. Write complete sentences with adjectives and the verb “to be”
(6pts).

3
1 5

1. ______________________________________
2. ______________________________________
3. ______________________________________

4. Talking about…
Talk about a family member or a close friend. For this purpose:
1. Share a photograph of the person.
2. Answer the questions. Attention: write complete sentences, use the
grammar and vocabulary that you studied here and in the multimedia modules 1
(10pts).
3. Record your text. Use http://vocaroo.com/ (10pts).
QUESTIONS:

1
Grammar module: activities 1 – 5
Vocabulary module: activities 1 – 4
And PDF Module # 1

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Basic English – “Talking about” worksheet

What is his/her name?
What is his/her relationship with you? (mom, husband, friend, etc.)
How old is he/she? (age, birthday)
Where is he/she from? (nationality, country, languages)
What does he/she look like? (appearance)
What is he/she like? (personality)
What is his/her profession? (occupation, job)

Text:
…

Vocaroo link:
…

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