Describing a Friend Dialogue for English Learners

Read the dialogue and the reading selection to learn about describing both male and female friends.   My Friend My friend Rich is coming to town next week. Have you ever met my him?No, I havent.Hes kind of crazy, but a great guy.Yeah, why do you say so? Whats he like?Hes really hard working, but very much a loner. Hes pretty talented and can do just about anything.Sounds interesting. Is he married?No, he isnt.What does he look like? Maybe my friend Alice would be interested in meeting him.Hes tall, slim and quite good looking. Im sure your friend would find him attractive. Whats she like?Shes outgoing and very athletic.Really? What sports does she like playing?Shes a great tennis player and also goes bicycling a lot.What does she look like?Shes kind of exotic looking. Shes got long dark hair and piercing black eyes. People think she is rather beautiful.Do you think she would like to meet Rich?Sure! Why dont we introduce them?Great idea! Key Vocabulary to be like used for character descriptionto like doing used to state general preferenceswould like to do used to state a specific wishlook like used to speak about physical appearanceloner likes to be alone a lotoutgoing very ambitious and does lots of activitiesathletic very good at sportsexotic from a little known locationpiercing looking deeply intorather very Differences in Vocabulary Between Men and Women Youve probably learned that the adjective handsome is generally used with men  and beautiful with women. Its a general rule, but there are certainly instances in which a woman is handsome or a man is beautiful. Of course, its all in the eye of the beholder.  The same can be said for the adjective pretty which is used with women. Whereas, cute is used when referring to either sex.   This is also true when speaking about a persons character. Any adjective can be used to describe either sex, but some are more common than others. Of course, these days, many people rightly complain about such stereotypes. Still, there are preferences that lie deep in the English language. Guys and gals used to be used to refer to men and women in an informal manner. These days, its common to refer to everyone as guys. Job names have also changed over the years. Its common to change words like businessman to businesswoman or business person. Other job titles such as stewardess are no longer in use.   These changes in vocabulary is an example of how English commonly changes with the times. In fact, English is such a flexible language that its difficult to understand English from four hundred years ago, whereas other languages such as Italian have changed relatively little in comparison.   Key Vocabulary to refer to either sex be used with both male and femalestereotype a general idea, often negative, of how a particular group of people actto change with the times to make changes as the culture changesin the eye of the beholder for the person who is taking noticeto lie deep in the language to be at the roots of a language