Name: _____________________________ ID:_________________ Section:____

When you describe a person, you should do it in such a way that, by the
time people finish listening to you, they seem to know the person.

Try to make your description more interesting by using ‘strong’ adjectives
(not ‘weak’ adjectives like ‘nice’) and adverbs such as ‘quite’, ‘really’,
‘extremely’, ‘fairly’ etc.
My Best Friend
Read through the following description.



Underline the topic sentence in each
paragraph
 Underline words that describe
Zainab’s physical characteristics
 Circle words that describe Zainab’s
personality / character – show the
proof for these words.
Underline conjunctions – What work do they do here? Be
specific.
Highlight verbs in the present simple tense (Note subject / verb
agreement)
My Best Friend
My best friend, Zainab, is a first year student at Zayed
University. She is my cousin, my uncle’s daughter, and I was
at primary school and high school with her. Zainab is
attractive with many good characteristics and she has a
positive influence on me.
The first thing you notice about Zainab is her hair. It’s quite
long, dark, and really curly. Then you notice her big brown
eyes. She likes wearing make-up even though she doesn’t
really need to because she is naturally pretty.
Zainab’s quite tall and fairly slim so she looks great in most
things. She is taller than most girls our age so it is easy to
find her when I get lost in a crowd at the mall. When we go
out together, she wears rather casual clothes under her
abaya, but her clothes are always extremely fashionable
because she loves shopping and reads lots of fashion
magazines.
Zainab is outgoing, compassionate and kind. She will chat
Introduction
(who is she/he & how
did you meet)
+ Plan of development
Distinctive features
(the first thing people
notice about her)
Physical description
Name: _____________________________ ID:_________________ Section:____
away to anyone. I am shy so when we are with people I don’t
know very well I let Zainab do most of the talking until I am
ready to join in the conversation. When somebody has a
problem Zainab will always take time to listen and tries to
help if she can. Then she asks that person to join her friends
for coffee – or does something so that person doesn’t feel
alone. She hates to see people feeling lost or sad.
I suppose the things I like best about Zainab are her sense of
humour and her honesty. I really like going out with her
because she’s a lot of fun and makes me laugh. When we go
to the movies she points out people in the crowd and
comments on their behaviour – but she doesn’t do it meanly.
Then, after the film is finished, she sometimes pretends she
is one of the actresses and talks and walks like them. She is
so funny! When we go shopping and I try on a dress and ask
her opinion she says things like, “That’s OK but I think you
look better in the red one” or “That’s too expensive. Let’s look
in another shop”.
Zainab is a good influence on me. When I am cross with my
brother she reminds me that he is only young and suggests
we all play a game together. She also helps her mum around
the house so I try to do this too. Of course my mother loves it
when Zainab comes to stay with us. When Zainab comes to
spend the weekend with me she always makes sure that we
have both done our homework before she leaves. She won’t
let me give up when I find something is difficult. She doesn’t
tell me the answers but she does help me to find them.
Zainab is a good influence on my eldest brother, too.
Whenever she is around he becomes more considerate than
usual and offers to take us to the mall
Zainab is my cousin but I am glad that she is my best friend,
too, because she has many good qualities I admire and she
is fun to be with. She makes me want to be a better person. I
am just sorry that we go to different universities so we don’t
spend enough time together during the semester.
Personality / Character
(examples)
What I like about her
(examples of her actions
- how she behaves)
How she influences me
(examples)
Conclusion
(highlight main points
from the body + my
opinion / feelings)
(530 words)
In your journal write about your own best friend.
Make sure that every paragraph has a topic sentence
and supporting details. Use strong adjectives to
describe your friend. (Do NOT use ‘nice’)