How to describe a picture in english oxford

How to Describe a Painting (in English)

Дорогой друг! Эта статья рассказывает о том, как описать картину на английском языке, а вот где можно научиться описывать картинку или фотографию.!

Describe a painting according to the plan:

USE THE TOPICAL VOCABULARY:

1. To begin with, you should say that the painting belongs to a particular genre. It can be

To begin with, this painting is a portrait which belongs to the brush of (…. the name of the painter)

1.1. If you remember some information about the painter, say it then.

This artist lived in the ……century and worked in the style known as Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, Expressionism, Abstract Art.

1.2. Give your opinion about the painting. Use adjectives:

To my mind, it is a … picture, which shows (….say what you see)

2. Mention the colours and the composition

2.1. Colours can be:

The picture is painted in …… colours. These colours contrast very well.
The dominating colours are ….
The colours contrast with each other.

2.2. Mention the composition/ the space:

The space of the picture is symmetrically/ asymmetrically divided.

2.3. Try to describe what you can see in general

3. Give some details

3.1. Make guesses about the situation:

They might be talking about…
She may have just woken up…
It looks as if …

4. In the end, give your impression. Use the words and phrases:

The Task

Describe the painting by Josepf Turner and send it to mail@englishstory.ru.

The best descriptions will be published on the website. Good luck!

How to Describe a Picture in English

How to describe a picture in English?

You could be asked to talk about a picture in the IELTS test. Or in any other test.

You may also need to talk about a picture as part of a presentation or in conversation.

It’s a useful skill to have in English. It helps you to describe things you can see very clearly to others.

So, let’s take a look at how to do it.

Table of Contents

Introducing The Main Picture

When talking about the picture or photograph, the first thing you want to say is a general description of it.

You do not need to go into detail immediately. Just introduce what the picture is of — or who it is of — and say one or two sentences about it.

So, if you were talking about the picture above, you might say:

This is a picture of a man. He is jumping in the air and it looks like he is on a beach somewhere.

That is a perfect introduction to the picture. Even if we cannot see the picture, we have a very clear idea of what the picture is in our mind.

You could also say:

This picture shows a man in a pair of shorts. He is on the beach and he is jumping up very high.

If you are introducing a photograph that you took yourself, then you can say this:

I took this picture when I was on vacation with my friend in Greece. He was feeling very happy that day, laughing and jumping around on the beach. So I took a picture of him just as he jumped in the air.

You don’t need to think of details or make it too complex.

Just give a brief introduction of what the picture is, who the person is, what they are doing and where they are.

That is all you need to say at this stage.

The Main Subject

Now you can talk about the main subject of the picture in detail.

The main subject of the picture could be a person or an object. It could be an animal too.

Usually, a picture has a subject. That is the next thing you talk about.

If the Subject is a Person or People

If the subject is a person or people, you need to describe them.

If you know the person in the picture — or you took the photograph — you need to add more information.

So, if we use the first picture as an example we could say the following:

He is a young black man. He is jumping up high. He looks very happy because he is smiling and has a cheerful expression on his face.

He is just wearing a pair of shorts and it looks like he is on a beach somewhere.

Now if you took the picture, you could say this:

This is a picture of my friend Alex. We were on holiday in Greece last summer and we went to the beach. We were walking on the beach and Alex started jumping around on the sand.

As he jumped into the air, I took a picture of him.

But It Could Be A Picture Of An Object

If it’s an object you need to think about the following things:

Take a look at the picture above of the house below.

How to talk about this?

This is a picture of a red house. It looks like it is in the middle of a field, probably the countryside. The house is red and the windows are painted white. The house looks kind of small and it also looks empty. I don’t think anyone lives in this house.

In this description, I mention the red house — so we know what it is and what colour it is.

I mention the surroundings — a field and maybe the countryside.

Then I give more description of the house — the colour, the windows and the size.

I also say that I think the house is empty. It doesn’t matter if the house is empty or not — this is just my opinion.

But if I took the picture, I could add more detail.

In short, add a little story to the description.

It could sound something like this:

I was walking near my parents’ house. They live in a small town and as I walked across these fields, I saw this house in the middle of nowhere.

It was in the summer, and I just looked at this strange house and had a strong desire to take a picture of it.

But What If The Picture Is Of An Animal?

If the picture is of an animal, you can use similar ways you use to describe a person.

Now take a look at the picture of the dog below.

We could talk about it like this:

This is a picture of a dog. I don’t know what kind of dog it is, but it has very short hair and has a light brown colour.

It looks like someone has caught the attention of the dog and it’s raising its paw at the person. Its ears are raised too, like the dog is excited or listening to something.

In this description, I say what the animal is — a dog.

Then a give a brief description of the dog — its hair and colour.

Then I talk about what the dog is doing and why. I also mention the dog’s ears.

If you took the picture yourself, you need to add some elements of story.

It might look something like this:

This is my dog, Bingo. Me and my brother were playing with him in my backyard a few weeks ago and I took this picture just as he raised his paw. My brother was about to throw a ball for Bingo.

Now we have more of a story attached to the picture of the dog.

We know the dog’s name and we know he is male.

Plus, we have some more detail of where it happened and who was there.

Talking About The Background

Once you have described the main subject — the person, the object or the animal — then you have to describe the background.

You can give a general description of the background — just as you do with the main subject of the picture — then you can go into detail.

So if we look at the man jumping on the beach again, what can we see in the background?

You can describe the background generally like this:

In the background, there is a beach and a large part of the picture is the blue sky. There are some clouds in the sky. And if we look at the beach, we can see some people in the far distance.

That is all you need to say. You mention the main things you can see in the background:

No need to talk about anything else at this stage.

Let’s look at the picture of the red house again.

Now this picture is a little different. Because we need to talk about the background and the foreground.

The foreground is the part of the picture that is at the front.

In this picture of the house, we need to talk about that too.

So we could say:

In the background, it is mostly sky. The sky looks overcast and grey. And the house is standing on a field. We can see green fields all around the house and in the foreground too.

And at the very front of the picture — out of focus — there are some flowers.

And finally, let’s look at the picture of the dog. There is not much to see, but we still have to describe what is there.

In the background, it looks like a wooden fence and a gate behind the dog. And the dog is sitting on a section of concrete. Maybe it is a backyard of someone’s house. There are some cracks in parts of the concrete.

That is all we need to say for each of the three pictures. When you first start to describe the background, just give a brief introduction to what you can see. It is enough.

The next thing we can do is talk about it in detail.

How To Talk About The Details

Once you give your introduction to the background, you can talk about it in more detail.

Let’s look at the man on the beach again.

To talk about the sky might be a little difficult. But we can say what we think or feel about it.

And we can add some more detail when talking about the people on the beach. And if we look clearly, we can see the sea and maybe two or three boats on the sea.

So we could say this:

The sky is very blue, and there are very few clouds. I think this picture must have been taken in the summer. It just looks hot to me.

And there are quite a few people in the background. I can see one man lying down on the sand — maybe he is sunbathing.

The other people are wearing beach clothes — shorts and t-shirts.

And in the far distance, I can see the sea. And on the sea, there are two or three boats, it is not very clear. One boat looks like it has a very high sail.

If you cannot see something very clearly in the picture, don’t worry. It doesn’t matter if you say two or three boats, for example. No one is going to correct you on this.

Just say what you can see.

What about the picture of the red house?

Again, just try to describe what you can see.

You might say something like this:

The house looks like it is built on a ridge on one of the fields. The ground rises up slightly in front of the house. And in the background, it looks like the land is rising down again in the opposite direction.

There is nothing on the grass. Only grass. No flowers or anything else there.

But there are flowers in the foreground. They are white. I don’t know what kind of flowers they are, as they are out of focus.

And between the grass and the flowers, it looks like a path. The ground is grey, and it goes from one side of the picture to the other.

Notice in this section, I said what is not on the grass — nothing, only grass, no flowers or anything else.

It is perfectly acceptable to say what is not in the background, but you cannot just say there is nothing here, nothing there, nothing over there.

The way I say there is nothing is that I focus on one subject of the picture — the grass — and then say what I cannot see on it. Because often we do see things on grass — flowers, birds and the occasional cow.

So that covers how to talk about the main subject and the background. But all three of these pictures are quite simple — just one main object and a plain and simple background with not much going on.

What if the picture was more complex?

How To Describe A Picture with More Complex Details

How to describe a picture that has more content and more details?

Take a look at the picture below.

Notice all the different things in it?

Think about these questions before you begin to talk about the picture.

Let’s try to answer all of these questions now.

What Is This A Picture Of?

This is a picture of a woman in a kitchen. The kitchen is white and very modern and has a lot of space. The woman is making something on the stove.

So that’s a basic description of what we can see in the picture. This is an ideal introduction, and it tells us everything we need to know for the beginning.

What Is The Main Subject Of The Picture?

There is a woman in the centre of the picture. She is standing behind a stove and she is stirring something in a pot on top of the stove. She seems happy as she is smiling. And she is wearing a thick grey cardigan.

That tells us a great deal about the main subject. It’s very clear and simple.

What Is In The Background?

Now this is where it gets a little complicated…

Unlike the previous pictures which have a very simple background, this picture has more things in it — plus they are in different parts of the picture.

This is where we use phrases like:

Let’s look at an example of how to describe the background.

In the background of the picture, we can see the kitchen. Directly behind the woman is a counter — and on the counter is a sink.

There are also some books on the counter. To the far left of the picture, we can see a few books stacked together. There is a small orange-coloured object holding the books in place.

And at the other end of the counter, there are a few more books leaning against a cabinet.

Above the counter are some cupboards. They all have white doors. It looks like there are five of them in total. There are some more cupboards below the counter.

The sink looks like it is made of stainless steel. We can see the tap above the sink.

In the background, to the right, there is a cabinet. In the cabinet is an oven and what looks like a microwave oven, too. They both look like very modern designs and they are both silver.

That gives a very clear description of what we can see in the background of the picture.

Notice that the description is all in order of location. It doesn’t jump from one part of the background to another.

So it talks in order of:

This is the best way to describe details in a picture. Do not jump from one part of the picture to another as it sounds confusing to the listener.

What Is In The Foreground?

And then you describe the foreground. It doesn’t matter if you describe the background or the foreground first. But make sure you stick to one part and describe all of that before moving to the next part.

You can use the same phrases as you used to talk about the background.

Let’s take a look at an example:

In the foreground, there is a shelf. It is white and l think it is made of marble.

There are a few objects on the shelf.

To the far left, there is a bowl of lemons. The bowl is white and there are many lemons in it — maybe more than ten. Behind the bowl of lemons, and to the left, is an orange-coloured pepper mill.

And then to the far right of the shelf, there are some green vegetables. The vegetables look very leafy.

Just to the left of the vegetables, and closer to the middle of the shelf, are three ceramic pots. They are all white and have light-brown lids.

Now there may be some vocabulary that you don’t know in the above description — words such as:

But you should get a clear idea of how to use phrases such as:

These are the kind of words and phrases that can help you explain where things are in the picture.

And if you follow the steps like that, you should be able to describe any picture at all!

But what if you don’t know the name of the objects you are describing?

How To Describe Things You Don’t Know The Name Of

If you see something in the picture and you know what it is in your own language, but you don’t know how to say it in English — don’t worry!

You can talk around it.

This gives you the opportunity to talk more and use more English. This is perfect if you are doing the IELTS speaking test!

Let’s take the picture of the kitchen and apply this technique.

In the last part, we talked about the foreground. Let’s try again — but this time we will talk around the objects we don’t know the name of.

In the foreground, there is a shelf. It is white. I don’t know the name of the material the shelf is made from, but it is a kind of stone. People often use it in their home as it looks beautiful.

To the far left of the picture, there is a bowl. Inside the bowl is a lot of fruit. I can’t remember the name of this fruit, but it is yellow and has a very bitter taste. People often use it for cooking and you can make tea with it as well. Inside the bowl are ten of these fruits.

And behind the bowl is another thing I don’t know the name of. You can often find this in a kitchen. People use it to make pepper into very small pieces. You turn the top and the pepper comes out the bottom in tiny little pieces.

Do you get the idea?

By describing things this way, you will find that you can actually talk for much longer.

And the examiner may give you extra marks for doing this too!

Talk About Your Impressions And Thoughts Of The Picture

A good thing to do when describing any picture is to give your thoughts on the picture.

There is no right or wrong answer when doing this, as you are just expressing your personal opinions. But it is a valuable thing to do, especially if you are in the IELTS speaking test.

Let’s go through all the pictures and look at some examples.

The Beach Picture

I really like this picture. I like the way the man is jumping in the air and I like the big smile on his face. It just looks like a really happy and positive photograph.

And it looks like really nice weather in the picture too. It looks like it must be a hot day and the sun shining brightly.

No wonder the man is smiling!

The Red House Picture

This place looks very bleak to me. Even on a nice summer day, it seems like it would be desolate and not an inviting place.

And the red house is empty, which makes the place seem even more bleak.

In the daytime, this place may be okay, but I don’t think I would like to be there at night. I imagine the house would be pretty scary at night.

The Dog Picture

The dog in the picture looks so nice. His fur looks really silky. I bet he’s a really friendly dog, I just have a good feeling about him.

The Kitchen Picture

This picture doesn’t look like a real photograph at all. It looks like advertising. No one has a kitchen like that in real life. And the woman is wearing a thick cardigan in the kitchen. Do people wear clothes like that if they are cooking? It doesn’t seem right.

And the rest of the kitchen is so neat and tidy. My kitchen is not like that. I don’t know any kitchen that looks like that!

Remember — you don’t have to say what you think the examiner wants to hear. You can just be honest and say what comes into your mind.

Notice in the dog picture description, the speaker is saying things about the dog — how they imagine the dog to be in real life.

Of course, they don’t know the dog, so how could they know?

But it doesn’t matter. You can just give your opinion of what you think the dog is like in your imagination.

Describe The Picture By Telling A Story

If you are showing someone a picture or making a presentation using a photograph that you took yourself, then you can tell a story about it.

People love to hear stories, and by showing a picture that you took yourself, this is the perfect opportunity to tell the story.

We looked at some short story introductions earlier, but let’s look in more detail.

The Beach Picture

I took this picture of my friend Alex when we went on holiday last year. We went to this great beach, and the weather was just fantastic.

Alex was in a really good mood that day and was jumping around on the sand.

As he jumped in the air, I grabbed my camera and took a picture of him. It just shows him at the right angle as he is smiling and leaping in the air.

The Dog Picture

I was with my friend and my dog, Bingo. It was a few weeks ago, and Bingo wanted to play with us. My friend had a ball and threw it at Bingo for him to catch it.

He was just about to throw the ball, and I took a picture of Bingo.

The Red House Picture

I was out in a field near where my friend lives. He lives in the countryside and this house sat in the middle of a field. I asked him if anyone lived there and he said no. He said the house has been empty for as long as he can remember.

It didn’t look very inviting. There was no glass in the windows and inside was completely empty.

If it is your picture, you must have a story to tell about it. And if you are doing a presentation using a photograph, then telling a story to accompany it is a great thing to do.

Please read my article on How To Tell A Story for more advice about using story and storytelling.

Conclusion

Describing a picture or photograph should be easy. As long as you describe the picture in order, you should be fine.

Just remember the order:

If you follow these steps, you should be able to describe or talk about any picture in English.

Take a look at some pictures on the internet and try to describe them by yourself right now. The more you practice, the more you will improve.

And remember — let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Welcome to Oxford Online English.

In this lesson, you can learn how to describe a picture in English.

Describing a picture is useful in many English exams; you need to describe a picture in English

for exams like FCE, TOEIC or PTE.

It’s also a good way to practise your general English skills.

Take an interesting picture, and try to describe it in English.

You can practise your speaking and learn some new English vocabulary!

In this lesson, you can learn how to describe a picture in English in clear, detailed language.

We’ll show you how to build an answer step-by-step.

What’s the best way to start your description?

Start with a summary, giving a general description of what’s in the picture and what you can

It’s useful to imagine that the person you’re talking to can’t see the picture.

Think: what does the other person need to know?

What do you need to say so that other people can understand what’s in the picture?

Let’s do an example.

You want to summarize what you see in one or two simple sentences.

How could you do that?

There are several small boats next to a beach.

Or, The picture shows a beach, with many small

boats in the water nearby.

Simple summaries like this make it easy to understand the general contents of the picture.

Let’s do one more: What could you say here?

Here are some possible answers:

There are three people cooking in a kitchen.

Or, The picture shows three young friends cooking

Okay, now it’s your turn.

Here’s another picture: You need to make a summary of what you see.

You can use these phrases:

There is… or, There are…

The picture shows…

Pause the video, and make one or two sentences.

You can write down your answers if you want.

Okay, after your summary, you can start giving more detail about what you see in the picture.

To start giving detail, you can talk about where things are in the picture.

Here’s some useful language to help you do this:

Let’s do an example.

On the left, there’s a girl with dark, curly hair.

She’s holding half a cauliflower.

In the middle, there’s a man who’s chopping vegetables.

At the bottom, we can see a counter with many different vegetables on it.

When talking about photos, you might also need the phrases:

In the background…

In the foreground…

For example: In the foreground, there’s a sandy beach

with three metal anchors on it.

In the middle, there are several small boats, which are close to the beach.

In the background, we can see the blue sea stretching to the horizon.

Let’s put all of this language together in another example:

Think first: what could you say about this picture?

Okay, let’s look at what you could say:

On the left, there’s a cat sitting on a table.

On the right, there’s a man standing, though we can’t see his face.

In the background, we can see blue sky and snowy mountains.

Now it’s your turn!

Here’s a picture:

Pause the video, and make at least three sentences.

Use the useful language you saw in this section.

Again, you can write your sentences down if you want to!

Now, the person you’re talking to should have a good general idea about what’s in

the picture you’re describing, and where things are.

Next, you should start describing your picture in more detail.

Let’s look at a picture you’ve seen before: When adding detail, don’t try to describe

everything in the picture.

It’s not necessary or useful.

You should add details to the most important parts of the picture.

So, for this picture, what do you think the most important parts are?

Probably, the person who took this photo took it because of the people.

So, you should focus your description on the two people.

Think: what do they look like, and what are they doing?

The two people both look unhappy or irritated.

They’re sitting at the kitchen table together, but they aren’t talking to each other.

The man is staring down at the table, while the woman is stirring her tea with a spoon.

That’s just three sentences, but they add a lot of detail to your description.

Let’s try one more: In this picture, what do you think you should

focus on in your description?

Fairly obviously, you should talk about the horses.

The horses are running through the grass.

Two of them are black, but the one in the middle is white and grey.

They don’t have saddles or anything, so they could be wild horses.

Again, you can see that you can do a lot with just a few sentences.

Alright, now it’s your turn!

Let’s take a picture you’ve already seen: Pause the video and make at least three sentences

to describe the picture in detail.

Try to include as much information as you can.

If you want more practice, you can do the same exercise with other pictures from this

lesson, or you could use your own pictures!

At this point, you’ve described the picture in detail.

So, what else can you do?

What does that mean?

Speculating means talking about possibilities.

For example, look at this picture: Think about some questions:

Why are the umbrellas there?

Who put them there?

By trying to answer questions like this, you are speculating; you’re talking about possibilities

and giving your opinion about the picture.

Speculating can help you to make a longer, more detailed answer when talking about a

Let’s do an example:

I suppose it might be some kind of art project.

Maybe one person put an umbrella up there as a joke, and then other people started doing

Let’s look at one more picture:

Think, if you wanted to speculate about this picture, what could you say?

Another way to think about it: what questions could you ask yourself about this picture?

Possible ideas are: who made the footprints, and why?

Where were they going?

Where is the person who made the footprints now?

There are other possibilities, of course, so feel free to use your own ideas, too!

Okay, so what could you say to speculate about this picture?

Here are some examples:

The footprints must have been made by a climber or a mountaineer.

The person who made the footprints might be standing on top of the mountain now.

In our examples, you’ve seen some useful language which you can use to speculate about

Do you remember?

You can use language like:

Let’s practise using these once more with another picture:

Could you make four sentences, using the useful language we just saw?

Let’s do an example together:

I suppose the guy is a climber, or he’s on an adventure holiday.

Maybe he climbed something, and now he’s on the way down.

He must have a lot of experience, because his body language is quite relaxed.

He might be focusing on what he’s doing, but he might just be enjoying the view!

Okay, now it’s your turn.

Can you make four sentences to speculate about this picture, using the language you’ve

learned in this section?

Pause the video and think about your answers!

Now, you have one more thing to do.

When you speculate, you can speculate about what you can see in the picture.

However, you can—and you should—speculate about what you can’t see, too.

How’s this possible?

Well, think about this picture: You can think about questions like: where

and when was the picture taken?

Who took the picture?

What was the photographer doing there?

I think this could be in the USA, or maybe Russia.

It’s a good photo, so perhaps it was taken by a professional nature photographer.

Talking about what you can’t see in the picture can be very useful, and can help to

add details to your answer.

Let’s do one more example: What could you say about this picture?

Let’s do this one together.

This must be somewhere tropical, like the Caribbean or the Maldives.

Perhaps it was taken by a tourist who came to the beach on one of those boats.

This time, you have to do it yourself!

Here’s your picture: Make at least two sentences to speculate about

the context of the picture.

Think about where and when it was taken, who took it, and what the photographer was doing

Hopefully you feel more confident describing pictures in English now.

Let’s put everything you’ve learned together and practise making longer, fluent descriptions.

When you describe a picture, you should:

Give a summary of what you see.

Talk about where things are in the picture.

Speculate about what’s in the picture.

And, Speculate about the context of the picture.

Let’s make a longer answer together.

We’ll start with a picture we’ve used already:

Here’s a possible longer answer:

In the picture, there are two people sitting at a table, looking unhappy.

There’s a woman on the left and a man on the right.

In the middle of the picture, we can see some things on the table, like cups of tea, biscuits,

The two people look sad or irritated, and they aren’t speaking to each other.

They’re both looking down at the table.

I suppose they had a fight and now they aren’t talking to each other, or they might just

be bored and not have anything to talk about.

I guess it’s a stock photo because otherwise, why would the photographer be in the kitchen

Do you think you could make an answer like this?

Remember, all the language you need is in this lesson.

You just need to take the things you practised in each part, and then put them together.

Let’s do one more example together:

The picture shows umbrellas hanging in the air.

In the foreground, we can see a streetlight, and the umbrellas fill the picture from left

The umbrellas are of many different colours, mostly bright colours like pink, yellow or

They’re hanging from wires.

I can see at least four lines of umbrellas hanging down in this way, but there could

Maybe this is some sort of art project.

It might also be a festival or tradition, that people decorate the street with colourful

umbrellas like this.

I suppose the picture was taken in a city or town, though I can’t tell where exactly.

Perhaps the photographer was a tourist, and was just walking around the city when he saw

this amazing and strange scene.

Alright, now it’s your turn.

We’ll give you a new picture:

Pause the video and try to make a longer answer, like we just did.

Follow the same structure.

I don’t think so!

You should practise as much as you can.

Take the other pictures from the lesson, and make longer answers about them, too.

Practise your answers several times, until you can do it fluently and comfortably.

If you want, you can leave one of your answers in the comments and we’ll give you feedback

on your English.

Don’t forget to check out Oxford Online English.com for more of our free English lessons.

Thanks for watching!

See you next time!

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Welcome to Oxford Online English.

In this lesson, you can learn how to describe a picture in English.

Describing a picture is useful in many English exams; you need to describe a picture in English

for exams like FCE, TOEIC or PTE.

It’s also a good way to practise your general English skills.

Take an interesting picture, and try to describe it in English.

You can practise your speaking and learn some new English vocabulary!

In this lesson, you can learn how to describe a picture in English in clear, detailed language.

We’ll show you how to build an answer step-by-step.

What’s the best way to start your description?

Start with a summary, giving a general description of what’s in the picture and what you can

It’s useful to imagine that the person you’re talking to can’t see the picture.

Think: what does the other person need to know?

What do you need to say so that other people can understand what’s in the picture?

Let’s do an example.

You want to summarize what you see in one or two simple sentences.

How could you do that?

There are several small boats next to a beach.

Or, The picture shows a beach, with many small

boats in the water nearby.

Simple summaries like this make it easy to understand the general contents of the picture.

Let’s do one more: What could you say here?

Here are some possible answers:

There are three people cooking in a kitchen.

Or, The picture shows three young friends cooking

Okay, now it’s your turn.

Here’s another picture: You need to make a summary of what you see.

You can use these phrases:

There is… or, There are…

The picture shows…

Pause the video, and make one or two sentences.

You can write down your answers if you want.

Okay, after your summary, you can start giving more detail about what you see in the picture.

To start giving detail, you can talk about where things are in the picture.

Here’s some useful language to help you do this:

Let’s do an example.

On the left, there’s a girl with dark, curly hair.

She’s holding half a cauliflower.

In the middle, there’s a man who’s chopping vegetables.

At the bottom, we can see a counter with many different vegetables on it.

When talking about photos, you might also need the phrases:

In the background…

In the foreground…

For example: In the foreground, there’s a sandy beach

with three metal anchors on it.

In the middle, there are several small boats, which are close to the beach.

In the background, we can see the blue sea stretching to the horizon.

Let’s put all of this language together in another example:

Think first: what could you say about this picture?

Okay, let’s look at what you could say:

On the left, there’s a cat sitting on a table.

On the right, there’s a man standing, though we can’t see his face.

In the background, we can see blue sky and snowy mountains.

Now it’s your turn!

Here’s a picture:

Pause the video, and make at least three sentences.

Use the useful language you saw in this section.

Again, you can write your sentences down if you want to!

Now, the person you’re talking to should have a good general idea about what’s in

the picture you’re describing, and where things are.

Next, you should start describing your picture in more detail.

Let’s look at a picture you’ve seen before: When adding detail, don’t try to describe

everything in the picture.

It’s not necessary or useful.

You should add details to the most important parts of the picture.

So, for this picture, what do you think the most important parts are?

Probably, the person who took this photo took it because of the people.

So, you should focus your description on the two people.

Think: what do they look like, and what are they doing?

The two people both look unhappy or irritated.

They’re sitting at the kitchen table together, but they aren’t talking to each other.

The man is staring down at the table, while the woman is stirring her tea with a spoon.

That’s just three sentences, but they add a lot of detail to your description.

Let’s try one more: In this picture, what do you think you should

focus on in your description?

Fairly obviously, you should talk about the horses.

The horses are running through the grass.

Two of them are black, but the one in the middle is white and grey.

They don’t have saddles or anything, so they could be wild horses.

Again, you can see that you can do a lot with just a few sentences.

Alright, now it’s your turn!

Let’s take a picture you’ve already seen: Pause the video and make at least three sentences

to describe the picture in detail.

Try to include as much information as you can.

If you want more practice, you can do the same exercise with other pictures from this

lesson, or you could use your own pictures!

At this point, you’ve described the picture in detail.

So, what else can you do?

What does that mean?

Speculating means talking about possibilities.

For example, look at this picture: Think about some questions:

Why are the umbrellas there?

Who put them there?

By trying to answer questions like this, you are speculating; you’re talking about possibilities

and giving your opinion about the picture.

Speculating can help you to make a longer, more detailed answer when talking about a

Let’s do an example:

I suppose it might be some kind of art project.

Maybe one person put an umbrella up there as a joke, and then other people started doing

Let’s look at one more picture:

Think, if you wanted to speculate about this picture, what could you say?

Another way to think about it: what questions could you ask yourself about this picture?

Possible ideas are: who made the footprints, and why?

Where were they going?

Where is the person who made the footprints now?

There are other possibilities, of course, so feel free to use your own ideas, too!

Okay, so what could you say to speculate about this picture?

Here are some examples:

The footprints must have been made by a climber or a mountaineer.

The person who made the footprints might be standing on top of the mountain now.

In our examples, you’ve seen some useful language which you can use to speculate about

How can you describe your hometown for an IELTS Speaking Test?

English Speaking Exam skills: How to describe a tree in autumn
by Jane Lawson at DailyStep.com)

Just look at the autumn leaves on this beautiful tree! The colours are amazing aren’t they? I took this photo in a town called Athlone, in central Ireland. If you ever do an English examination, you will need to learn how to describe a picture for your speaking exam, so here is an example of how to do it. Below that, there is a study of some useful phrases for describing pictures.
.

“ These pictures show two different views of a tree in autumn. In the left hand picture we can see the leaves of the tree with the sun shining on them. The colours in this photo are amazing – the leaves are gold, orange, yellow and brown. They remind me of a fire burning, because the colours and shapes of the leaves look just like the flames of a fire. This is obviously a very tall tree because the view in the photo looks up into the branches of the tree, and we can see more and more branches up high in the distance. It’s obviously a bright, clear day, and it is also likely to be rather chilly because clear, sunny days in autumn often mean cold weather!

In the picture on the right hand side we can see a carpet of gold-coloured leaves that have fallen from the tree. The sunlight is making the leaves look as if they are glowing. On the left hand side of the picture we can see part of the tree trunk, and at the top we can see a couple of large branches, covered in autumn leaves. The sun must be to the left of the tree because the trunk is casting a shadow on the wall and also on the ground between the tree and the wall.

Both these pictures make me think of a wood where I used to play when I was a child. In the autumn, we used to gather up the leaves and throw them at each other. There is something rather sad about the beautiful season of autumn, because although the woods look stunning as their leaves die and fall to the ground, we know that winter is coming, and the tree will soon be bare, with no leaves until the new ones grow in spring. ”

So, that is how you could describe these pictures in a speaking examination. Look out for more picture descriptions in my future blogs, including how to compare and contrast two different pictures. In the downloadable Audio Word Study below, you can learn the useful phrases from my description.

Please share this with your friends and colleagues if they are learning English!

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Here is Audio Word Study #081 on DailyStep.com
.
In my description above of the tree in autumn, I have highlighted some important phrases for describing pictures. Below, you can hear all those phrases again, and also learn some other ways of saying the same thing, so you can vary your speaking style. Make sure you remember these as you might need to use them in an English examination!

2. In the left hand picture we can see the leaves of the tree = The left hand picture is of the leaves of the tree

3. The colours in this photo are amazing – the leaves are gold, orange, yellow and brown. = This picture has amazing colours in it

4. They remind me of a fire burning = They make me think of a fire burning / They bring to mind a fire burning

5. because the colours and shapes of leaves look just like the flames of a fire. = because the colours and shapes of the leaves resemble the flames of a fire

6. This is obviously a very tall tree because the view in the photo looks up into the branches of the tree, = it is clear that this is a very tall tree because the photo has been taken when looking up into the branches of the tree

7. it is also likely to be rather chilly because clear, sunny days in autumn often mean cold weather! = It is probably also quite chilly because the weather is often cold on clear, sunny days in autumn!

8. In the picture on the right hand side we can see a carpet of gold-coloured leaves that have fallen from the tree. = In the right hand picture we can see a carpet of gold-coloured leaves that have fallen from the tree.

9. On the left hand side of the picture we can see part of the tree trunk = On the left side of the picture we can see part of the tree trunk

10. at the top we can see a couple of large branches = towards the top there are a couple of large branches

11. The sun must be to the left of the tree because the trunk is casting a shadow on the wall = I assume that the sun is to the left of the tree because the trunk is casting a shadow on the wall

12. Both these pictures make me think of a wood where I used to play when I was a child. = These two pictures remind me of a wood where I used to play when I was a child / Both these pictures bring to mind a wood where I used to play when I was a child

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In this lesson, you can learn how to describe a picture in English.

Describing a picture is useful in many English exams; you need to describe a picture in English for exams like FCE, TOEIC or PTE.

It’s also a good way to practise your general English skills. Take an interesting picture, and try to describe it in English. You can practise your speaking and learn some new English vocabulary!

In this lesson, you can learn how to describe a picture in English in clear, detailed language. We’ll show you how to build an answer step-by-step.

QUIZ: How to Describe a Picture

Test your knowledge of the vocabulary for describing pictures.

This quiz has ten questions reviewing the language from the lesson, followed by four descriptions of photographs, which you need to complete, with a total of ten gaps to fill.

You’ll get your score out of 20 at the end, when you click ‘Finish Quiz’. Then, click ‘Restart Quiz’ to have another go, or ‘View Questions’ to see the correct answers.

Quiz Summary

0 of 14 Questions completed

Information

You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.

Quiz is loading…

You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.

You must first complete the following:

Results

Results

0 of 14 Questions answered correctly

Time has elapsed

You have reached 0 of 0 point(s), ( 0 )

Categories

Well done! You’ve finished!

That’s an excellent score! Congratulations!

A perfect score! Congratulations!

Which is correct?

Is ‘people’ singular or plural?

The picture _________ a village in the mountains.

Which word goes in the gap?

There are some cows in a field _______ the grass.

Which form of the verb goes in the gap?

In the ________, there’s a man reading a newspaper.

Which two options can go in the gap?

_____ the bottom, we can see a table with some cakes on it.

Which preposition goes in the gap?

There’s someone else _____ the right, but they’ve got their back to the camera.

Which preposition goes in the gap?

In the ______ left, we can see a flock of birds.

Which word goes in the gap?

I _________ they’ve had an argument, because they both look quite angry.

Which verb is not possible in the gap?

The option you need to choose is for expressing certainty, not speculating, which is what the other three verbs are used for.

There are a lot of damaged trees, so _________ there’s been a storm.

Which words are possible in the gap? Choose as many as you think are right.

Only adverbs are grammatically correct in the gap, not verbs.

It _________ be a very cold place, because they’re all wearing hats and scarves.

Which option is correct in the gap?

This time, you need a modal verb that speculates about something that’s certain – the evidence is the hats and scarves, so there’s no doubt that it’s cold.

Complete the sentence using a word from the box in each gap. There are two words that you don’t need to use.

Complete the sentence using a word from the box in each gap. There are two words that you don’t need to use.

Complete the sentence using a word from the box in each gap. There are two words that you don’t need to use.

Complete the sentence using a word from the box in each gap. There are three words that you don’t need to use.

The picture a man skiing and one other person is visible in the on the right. The man in the centre be quite experienced, because the slope’s very steep.

Read the Full Script

1. Summarize What You See

What’s the best way to start your description?

Start with a summary, giving a general description of what’s in the picture and what you can see.

It’s useful to imagine that the person you’re talking to can’t see the picture. Think: what does the other person need to know? What do you need to say so that other people can understand what’s in the picture?

Let’s do an example.

You want to summarize what you see in one or two simple sentences. How could you do that?

Simple summaries like this make it easy to understand the general contents of the picture.

Let’s do one more:

What could you say here?

Here are some possible answers:

Okay, now it’s your turn. Here’s another picture:

You need to make a summary of what you see.

You can use these phrases:

Pause the video, and make one or two sentences. You can write down your answers if you want.

Okay, after your summary, you can start giving more detail about what you see in the picture.

2. Talking About Where Things Are

To start giving detail, you can talk about where things are in the picture.

Here’s some useful language to help you do this:

Let’s do an example.

When talking about photos, you might also need the phrases:

Let’s put all of this language together in another example:

Think first: what could you say about this picture?

Okay, let’s look at what you could say:

Now it’s your turn! Here’s a picture:

Pause the video, and make at least three sentences. Use the useful language you saw in this section.

Again, you can write your sentences down if you want to!

Okay? What’s next?

3. Adding More Detail to Your Description

Now, the person you’re talking to should have a good general idea about what’s in the picture you’re describing, and where things are.

Next, you should start describing your picture in more detail.

Let’s look at a picture you’ve seen before:

When adding detail, don’t try to describe everything in the picture. It’s not necessary or useful. You should add detail to the most important parts of the picture.

So, for this picture, what do you think the most important parts are?

Probably, the person who took this photo took it because of the people. So, you should focus your description on the two people.

Think: what do they look like, and what are they doing?

That’s just three sentences, but they add a lot of detail to your description.

Let’s try one more:

In this picture, what do you think you should focus on in your description? Fairly obviously, you should talk about the horses.

Again, you can see that you can do a lot with just a few sentences.

Alright, now it’s your turn!

Let’s take a picture you’ve already seen:

Pause the video and make at least three sentences to describe the picture in detail. Try to include as much important information as you can.

How was that? If you want more practice, you can do the same exercise with other pictures from this lesson, or you could use your own pictures!

At this point, you’ve described the picture in detail. So, what else can you do?

4. Speculating About the Picture

Speculating… What does that mean?

Speculating means talking about possibilities.

For example, look at this picture:

Think about some questions:

Why are the umbrellas there?
Who put them there?

By trying to answer questions like this, you are speculating; you’re talking about possibilities and giving your opinion about the picture.

Speculating can help you to make a longer, more detailed answer when talking about a picture.

Let’s do an example:

Let’s look at one more picture:

Think, if you wanted to speculate about this picture, what could you say?

Another way to think about it: what questions could you ask yourself about this picture?

Possible ideas are: who made the footprints, and why? Where were they going? Where is the person who made the footprints now?

There are other possibilities, of course, so feel free to use your own ideas, too!

Okay, so what could you say to speculate about this picture?

Here are some examples:

In our examples, you’ve seen some useful language which you can use to speculate about a picture. Do you remember?

You can use language like:

Let’s practise using these once more with another picture:

Could you make four sentences, using the useful language we just saw?

Let’s do an example together:

Okay, now it’s your turn. Let’s take another of our pictures:

Can you make four sentences to speculate about this picture, using the language you’ve learned in this section? Pause the video and think about your answers!

Now, you have one more thing to do.

5. Speculating About the Context of the Picture

When you speculate, you can speculate about what you can see in the picture. However, you can—and should—speculate about what you can’t see, too.

How’s this possible? Well, think about this picture:

You can think about questions like: where and when was the picture taken? Who took the picture? What was the photographer doing there?

You see? Talking about what you can’t see in the picture can be very useful, and can help to add details to your answer.

Let’s do one more example:

What could you say about this picture?

Let’s do this one together. You could say:

Okay, one more. This time, you have to do it yourself!

Here’s your picture:

Make at least two sentences to speculate about the context of the picture. Think about where and when it was taken, who took it, and what the photographer was doing there.

How was that? Hopefully you feel more confident describing pictures in English now.

Let’s put everything you’ve learned together and practise making longer, fluent descriptions.

6. Making a Longer Answer

When you describe a picture, you should:

Let’s make a longer answer together. We’ll start with a picture we’ve used already:

Here’s a possible longer answer:

Do you think you could make an answer like this? Remember, all the language you need is in this lesson. You just need to take the things you practised in each part, and then put them together.

Let’s do one more example together:

Alright, now it’s your turn. We’ll give you a new picture:

Pause the video and try to make a longer answer, like we just did. Follow the same structure.

Finished? I don’t think so! You should practise as much as you can. Take the other pictures from the lesson, and make longer answers about them, too.

Practise your answers several times, until you can do it fluently and comfortably. Post your responses on the Oxford Online English YouTube channel and we’ll give you feedback!

Do you want more practice with vocabulary? Watch our lesson to get advice on keeping a vocabulary notebook.