What does he like, what is she like and what does she look like?

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The word like is used in different ways to ask questions. Such questions with like may have different meanings.

Like may be used to ask questions about:

  • Personality or the characteristics of something.
  • Preferences.
  • Hobbies.
  • Physical appearance.

The word like in these questions is used either as a verb or as a preposition.

Talking about personality or the characteristics of something

Like can be used to ask about personality or the characteristics of something. Example:

  • What’s your friend like? → He’s nice.
  • What’s the house like? → It’s huge.
  • What was the weather like? → It was sunny.

Like in the above examples is used as a preposition.

Talking about about preferences

Like can be used to talk about preferences. Examples:

  • What music does Julie like? → She likes rock music.
  • What would you like to eat? → Fish, please.

Like is used in these questions as a verb.

Talking about hobbies

To ask about hobbies, use like in questions as follows:

  • What does he like doing? → He likes singing.
  • What do you like doing? → I like reading.

Like in these examples is used as a verb.

In this video we look at two meanings of like and fix a common mistake. They will compare the verb like with like as a preposition and you’ll learn how to use two useful English questions: Do you like…? and What’s it like? Video script here.

If one thing is like something else, it’s similar. Like is a preposition here, and it is used to talk about things that are similar.

Talking about physical appearance or resemblance

Like may be used in questions to ask about physical appearance. Examples:

  • What does he look like? → He is tall and has got black long hair.
  • What does she look like? → She is beautiful. She has brown eyes and short black hair.
  • Who do you look like? → I look just like my father.
  • Who does she look like? → She looks like her grandmother.

Like in the above questions is used as a preposition.

The next video explains the differences between the three question with the word like: What does he like, what is she like and what does she look like?

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE that we usually use How?, not What … like?, when we ask about someone’s health or temporary state:

A: How’s your brother today? B: He’s feeling much better.

A: How was your boss today? B: He was very friendly today!

Now, PRACTICE:

LEVEL 1 EXERCISE

LEVEL 2 EXERCISE: Write an appropriate question to the following sentences. You’ll find the correct questions, in order, below the answers. 

  1. Oh, she is very interesting. She is very involved in community activities and loves the outdoors.
  2. He’s fine, thank you.
  3. Just awful, it hasn’t stopped raining for the last three days.
  4. Reading science fiction, watching classic films on late night TV.
  5. Very pretty, she’s got short blond hair, blue eyes and she usually wears jeans and a t-shirt.
  6. He’s quite the entertainer. He loves having people over for dinner.
  7. It can be spicy and sweet. It’s delicious.
  8. It’s a painting of a countryside with lots of flowers in the foreground.
  9. He can be difficult at times.

Questions:

  1. What’s she like?
  2. How is he?
  3. What’s the weather like?
  4. What does she like doing?
  5. What does she look like?
  6. What’s he like? or What does he like doing?
  7. What’s it like?
  8. What does it look like?
  9. What’s he like?

Stress and intonation: quais palavras enfatizar

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Sim, precisamos estudar vocabulário e gramática, mas tão importante quanto, para que nossa compreensão e comunicação seja efetiva, se faça “sem ruídos”, é a observação do ritmo. E o ritmo da língua inglesa depende de dois tipos de stress.

Quando dizemos stress (tonicidade), queremos dizer a ênfase*, como dizemos uma sílaba ou palavras mais fortemente do que outras partes da palavra ou frase, fazendo com que aquelas sílabas e palavras tônicas se destaquem e se tornem mais perceptíveis.

* Olhe a lição anterior, para uma boa introdução ao assunto.

As palavras geralmente enfatizadas são consideradas palavras de conteúdo , content words, como:

  • Substantivos (por exemplo cozinha, Peter)
  • A maioria dos verbos principais (por exemplo visitar, construir)
  • Adjetivos (por exemplo bonito, interessante)
  • Advérbios (por exemplo frequentemente, com cuidado)
  • Negativos, incluindo verbos auxiliares negativos e palavras com “não”, como “nada”, “lugar nenhum” etc. 
  • Determiners (por exemplo, o, a, esse, isto, aquilo, alguns, alguns, meu, nosso, WH-words)
  • Palavras que expressam quantidades (por exemplo muito, alguns, muitos)

Palavras não acentuadas são consideradas palavras funcionais, function words, como:

  • Verbos auxiliares (por exemplo, don’t, am, were, have)
  • Preposições (por exemplo, antes, ao lado, oposto)
  • Conjunções (por exemplo, mas, enquanto, como)
  • Pronomes (por exemplo, eles, ela, nós)
  • Verbos “ter” e “ser”, mesmo quando usados ​​como verbos principais

No entanto, stress é sobre contraste, e isso significa que o stress é relativo.

O stress na sentença é flexível e a linha divisória entre palavras de conteúdo e palavras gramaticais não é fixa. As sentenças, os exemplos acima, são apenas as mais prováveis; existem outras possibilidades.

Pronuncie as palavras tônicas o mais claramente possível. Exagere um pouco o stress, e fale as palavras átonas o mais rápido que puder. Tente obter um contraste muito claro entre as palavras tônicas e átonas.

Abaixo, Gavin traz o assunto através de um informal bate papo.

Passe a ouvir com atenção como os falantes nativos enfatizam as palavras tônicas. À medida que você começar a ouvir atentamente, você descobrirá que no inglês, palavras que você parece não entender, têm importância, mas não são determinantes para a compreensão do todo. 😉

Pronunciation: stress and intonation

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Sentence stress é fundamental para uma boa comunicação em inglês. Iniciantes no aprendizado da língua, devem aprender a respeito, desde as primeiras lições.

Ao aprendemos uma palavra em inglês, observamos significado, escrita (spelling), uso em diferentes contextos e pronúncia.

Fonética (estudo do sons da fala), foi até pouco tempo, negligenciada, sendo que boa pronúncia, ou uma pronúncia o melhor possível, é extremamente importante para não haver falha na comunicação, para se fazer compreender, para ser compreendido.

Stress é falar, soar palavras, ou partes de palavras, com mais ênfase do que outras.

E o inglês tem dois tipos básicos de tonicidade:

  1. Word stress (ênfase silábica)
  2. Sentence stress (ênfase de palavra)

O stress observado na sílaba da palavra, é o word stress. As sílabas em negrito nas palavras abaixo indicam qual é a sílaba tônica em cada uma delas, e falaremos mais sobre isso numa próxima lição:

  • important /ɪmˈpɔrtnt/
  • police /pəˈlis/
  • computer /kəmˈpjutər/
  • communication /kəˌmjunɪˈkeɪʃn/
  • interesting /ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/
  • difference /ˈdɪfrəns/
  • Brazil /brəˈzɪl/

Além do word stress, a segunda parte fundamental para uma boa compreensão e comunicação, é observar o sentence stress. Exemplos encontram-se no vídeo abaixo.

Sentence stress é o que ocorre quando uma palavra ou várias palavras, são ditas de modo mais enfático em uma sentença. 

A palavra ou as palavras principais da sentença – aquela ou aquelas que carregam o significado central do que está sendo dito – serão enfatizadas. Dependendo da palavra a ser enfatizada dentro da sentença, o significado, a ideia expressa, poderá mudar completamente.

Muitos falantes de português, queixam-se de que os falantes de língua inglesa falam muito rapidamente, ou “engolem” palavras. 

Em línguas silábicas como o português – SYLLABLE-TIMED LANGUAGE, cada sílaba tem igual importância e, portanto, igual tempo é gasto em cada uma. 

O inglês, uma língua tônica – STRESS-TIMED LANGUAGE entretanto, enfatiza as palavras importantes, enquanto passa rapidamente por palavras menos importantes.

E INTONATION, entonação, é o som resultante do aumento ou queda do tom de voz, sobretudo para enfatizar o sentido de uma frase.

Por exemplo, em perguntas, a voz se eleva em tom, no final da pergunta.

Hey Dylan↘️, how’s it going↗️?

Neste vídeo, Carina Fragozo, mostra alguns padrões de acento frasal (sentence stress) do inglês.

Passe a ouvir com atenção como os falantes nativos enfatizam as palavras tônicas. À medida que você começar a ouvir atentamente, você descobrirá que no inglês, palavras que você parece não entender, têm importância, mas não são determinantes para a compreensão do todo.

What’s your word for 2022?

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I believe that resiliency prevailed in 2021. 

Instead of making New Year’s resolutions that you probably won’t keep, choose a word that can make a positive impact and help guide your decisions over the next year to reach your goals. 

So, what word will you choose to guide you and give you focus in 2022?

In this video, January the first talks to us and shares a piece of advice.

And the word is movement.

Moving will help you get through the next 364 days with ease, she says.

Start the year doing that: moving. But not just the exercise kind of movement.

She means movement of the spirit, the soul, moving someone else’s heart.

January the first advises us to move to find the inspiration to create, to invent.

When we’re moving, there’s no time for fear, for doubts, because it pushes us forward, it makes us stronger, wiser.

Take her word. Write it down somewhere and put it into action.

It will make every single day of your year count.

It’s an inspirational message, but we can also learn the language we use in our day-to-day life. So here we go!

PIECE OF ADVICE

(Conselho) Advice is uncountable. We say a piece of advice (not ‘an advice’) and some advice (not ‘some advices’).

GET THROUGH​ something

(Lidar) To successfully deal with a problem or difficulty

I know we’re going to get through the pandemic.

WITH EASE

(Com facilidade) Without difficulty, easily

They won the game with ease.

TAKE SOMEONE’S WORD

(Acreditar na palavra de alguém) To believe someone without needing proof or evidence

I’ve lost my sense of smell, so I’ll have to take your word for any similarities to lavender in terms of scent.

WRITE (something) DOWN

(Anotar) To note, to scribble, to write (something); to put (something) to paper

I think I wrote it down wrong.

Now, what word will you choose to guide you and give you focus in 2022?

  • CONNECTION? It can mean a relationship or bond with another person, and it can also reference connecting with the present moment. 
  • CONTRIBUTION? It could mean an act or monetary donation, but it is about generosity.
  • CONFIDENCE? Focusing on what we are good at and what compliments our personality can help us achieve goals and boost confidence. We learn what we can do and when we need to ask for help.
  • OR MAYBE YES? A simple word, but it can have a strong impact.

My wish for you is to go forward and make a difference in anything that you choose to do. 😉

Do you have a 2021 gratitude list?

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The end of the year is a great time to look ahead and draw up (make/put together)a plan for what to do next. But first, let’s go back to what happened this year.

What are you most grateful for in 2021?

How did this person/experience/thing impact your life?

What are the other things you’re grateful for in 2021?

Gratitude benefits us on many levels. It’s good for emotional balance and positively affects our personality. 

It also helps us appreciate the things we have, do, and are in our lives, giving us the chance to feel good about them rather than focusing on the feeling that keeps telling us we need to have, do and be more.

Cultivating gratitude increases well-being, happiness, energy, optimism, and empathy.

This is what makes it onto my 2021 grateful list:

  • Being alive: my family and I, and all the people I care for;
  • My daughter: so proud of her! She’s facing challenges, in a foreign country, all by herself, and beautifully achieving her full potential;
  • My dear students, former and current ones. Each one is unique, and I’m grateful for the chance to help them with their goals;
  • Every person or being who made me smile, who offered me help, who taught me something, who showed me a better way to be or to do something;
  • Food and shelter;
  • My effort to set the time to make progress in my studies, to think, to self-reflect;
  • New challenges and accomplishments, although simple for others;
  • Making the most out of good and bad experiences;
  • Finding joy in the most simple, tiniest details and this world’s natural beauty;
  • What has gone and what is yet to come.

This video, A Good Day, was recorded fourteen years ago and watched over 1 million times. It features Brother David, a highly-respected Benedictine monk, author, and spiritual leader, and is a blessing to all those with “eyes to see and ears to hear.” Look, listen, and feel inspired by this powerful message on grateful living. 

And if you want more, Brother David says that the one thing all humans have in common is that each of us wants to be happy. And happiness, he suggests, is born from gratitude. Below is an inspiring lesson in slowing down, looking where you’re going, and above all, being grateful. 

It is a listening and reading practice if you work on the transcript. You can find it in English and Portuguese if you need it. Look up the words you don’t know.