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ESL forum > Ask for help > need help!    

need help!



claudia4444
Austria

need help!
 
Hi everybody, I need your help:
 
Describe how she looks like.
 
Describe what she looks like.
 
Can I say both, or is just one correct? Is there a difference?
 
Thanks in advance for your help. I �m so happy that I have someone to ask apart from collegues at school.

25 Nov 2009      





Mr Jazz
France

I �d go with �what she looks like �, I think the other proposition is not correct...

25 Nov 2009     



mars8787
Turkey

How ıs absolutely not correct

25 Nov 2009     



claudia4444
Austria

thanks guys, I appreciate your quick answer. sometimes I just get so confused when I mark my students � work and read the same things over and over again. I sometimes end up not knowing if what I think is the right answer and have to check simple things. BIG HUGS from Austria

25 Nov 2009     



Spagman63
Hong Kong

You can say "Describe how she looks." or "Describe what she looks like." but never "how she looks like.." unless you are comparing her to another person or an animal.  It would be better to say "Explain how she looks like a ________."

25 Nov 2009     



ash2
Spain

"describe what she looks like" means that you want to know about her physical appearance, ie. She is tall, blond...
" describe how she looks" means that you want to know about her emotional state, ie. she looks happy!

25 Nov 2009     



yolprica
Spain

You mean what she is like, I suppose, because as some people have said before you can �t say "how she looks like".
Yolanda

25 Nov 2009     



RabbitWho
Czech Republic

I know what you mean! I have the same problem where I forget if things are right or wrong because I hear them so often.

For example Czech students constantly say "write a test" when they mean "do a test" or "take a test" and for a long time I forgot that "write a test" actually means "create a test" like the people who write the FCE or the TOEFL.. they decide what questions will be on it. 

Also I get my word order and adjective order mixed up.. and I �ve only been here a year! But the only native English speaker I talk to now is my boss.. and he �s been here 12 years, he speaks only Czenglish now! 

Another Czech mistake that I make a lot is:

The best way how to do it is... 
Instead of:
The best way to do it is... 

Yolprica I must point out that "What is she like" means what is her character like, for example, "is she cheerful?" This person probably wants to know:
What does she look like? 
How does she look?
Describe how she looks
Describe what she looks like 
Which is related to appearance, e.g. she has two heads and a tail. 

25 Nov 2009