Sound Smarter in English with Useful Vocabulary for Describing What You See

Hi there. This is Harry. And welcome back  to Advanced English Lessons with Harry,  

where I tried to help you to get a better  understanding of the English language. 

And in this particular advanced English  lesson we're looking at advanced adjectives.  

And these advanced adjectives are used to  describe images in particular photographs,  

paintings or whatever it might be. So advanced adjective is used 

to describe images. And I've got a dozen of  them. That's 12 okay. And I'll go through  

them and hopefully I'll be able to give you an  example of when you might be able to use them. 

First - powerful, a powerful image. Well, a  powerful image is something that really leaves  

a lasting impression on your mind. Yeah. You could see a powerful image of an old lady of  

85 or 86 standing in front of a police man dressed in a 

battle uniform. When there's a demonstration on  the streets, and the woman marches forward to  

confront these police officers to ask, why are  they blocking the route? And why can people not  

demonstrate peacefully on the streets? So that  would be a very powerful image. I saw one many,  

many months ago about an old lady confronting  riot police in Belarus when the people were  

demonstrating on the streets there. So that would be described as  

a very powerful image. Humorous. Well, something  

humorous is something. Of course, that's going  to make you laugh. It's going to make you smile,  

and it's going to give you a good feeling. So,  for example, a cartoon in a newspaper. So it  

could be a satirical cartoon that is taking  some fun or poking fun at the government,  

or a prime minister or a president or the the  king or the queen of that particular country. 

And if it's very, very humorous, then we will  always laugh. And we can remember these type  

of cartoons. And these satirical cartoonists  are really, really good. They're very clever.  

They see a situation and they apply a cartoon to  that. Now, of course, what I find humorous, you  

may not find humorous and what you find humorous,  somebody else might find a little bit insulting. 

So have to be really, really careful  as to what we do, that we don't do  

it intentionally to insult somebody, but we  just look at the humorous side. So a cartoon. 

Raw R-A-W. Raw. Saw. A raw image is something  that's not properly or fully processed. So if  

you go out and you take a photograph or beautiful  or what you feel is a beautiful landscape view  

of mountains or valleys or rivers, then  in its raw state it probably looks good,  

but perhaps it needs some added photoshop.  Bring us some touch ups to make it look. 

really, really perfect. So raw in its raw state  is the first state that you happen to see. 

Number four meaningful. Well, something  meaningful is something that gives you 

some idea that there's something behind it.  There's a reason why this particular image  

has been taken a meaningful. So you need to  feel that it's not just done for the sake of  

hanging on a wall, to make you feel warm. But there's a some deeper meaning to the  

photograph. Some deeper meaning to  the sketch. Something meaningful,  

something that is, has got some depth to it. Okay, well another adjective and it sits two  

words together, well-composed. And we when  we write it, you'll see it on the screen  

with a hyphen well-composed. So if you're  looking at it, an image that's well-composed,  

you could imagine a scene, let's say a country  scene. Okay, you've got a cottage, you've got  

fields and you've got mountains as well. So it's well composed. If you've got the  

picture of the cottage at the beginning  or the front or the in the full front,  

or the foreground of the, the painting or the  photograph. So it's in good proportion and then  

are surrounded by a green field with a fence. And  then in the background you've got these mountains  

maybe capped with snow or lined with trees. So everything is in specific proportion. So  

we could describe that as a really well composed  picture or well composed painting. So everything  

is in proportion rather than people in the  painting that are a little bit out of shape  

compared to the rest of the items or articles  or things that are in that painting or picture.  

So something well-composed that there's  good definition to the the picture, a good  

definition to the photograph. So you can see very  clearly your little cottage surrounded by roses, 

behind it a field or with a fence and whatever's  growing in the field. And then at the very back  

in the background, you've got the range of  mountains or the mountain range, and the peaks  

are capped with snow. So that would be a good  description of something that is well-composed. 

And if you do like this particular lesson, then  please like the video. And if you can subscribe  

to the channel because it really, really helps. Number six, something that's iconic. Well,  

we can all think of images that we  have seen over the, the years that are  

iconic and they're iconic because they last  with this a very, very long time. I remember  

the iconic picture of the captain of the English, football team being carried by his colleagues  

when they won the World Cup in 1966, the first  and only time that England won the World Cup. 

But it's an iconic photograph  because he's holding the trophy  

in his hands. He's being carried aloft by his teammates. And it's, for me, an iconic image.  

Okay, but there could be other iconic images.  There could be photograph of the Twin Towers. 

Those of us who remember them before, they  were unfortunately blown up. But then these are  

iconic images or indeed the unfortunate  situation when they were blown up. That  

image will last with me for a lifetime.  So that again, is something iconic. 

Number eight on number seven, I think. Sorry.  Number seven evocative. Something that's  

evocative. It's something that gets your emotional  emotions get you thinking about it. So, you 

lots of images may not be evocative  

for everybody, but they can be. So something  evocative gets you thinking, gets you feeling." 

So perhaps it's a flood or... And there are 

rushing waters coming down the streets.  So that really gets you thinking about it.  

Perhaps it's the remains of a thunderstorm or  a huge hurricane that has come through a part  

of America and has left houses and properties  destroyed. Those can be quite evocative images. 

These are all something that gets you thinking,  gets you feeling, gets you wondering as to exactly  

what happened next, or what would you do in that  particular situation to get the blood flowing. 

In some cases, it can get the blood boiling  a little bit, and people can get a little  

bit angry or aggressive about certain images. Cluttered. Well, cluttered means. And there's  

a lot to something. There's a lot of mess. If your bedroom is cluttered or your office  

is cluttered, you got papers everywhere, books  everywhere, clothes everywhere. You can't really  

move. So a cluttered image is something that's  not so clear. Yeah. So I often look at these 

paintings by Picasso, and to me  they would be very cluttered." 

There's lots of things in it. you're looking at images of a  

goat or a trumpet or a piano or whatever,  and they're all combined in one particular, 

painting. And so there's a lot happening  in those particular images. And to me,  

they're extremely cluttered. So I like things  to be a little bit more defined. So cluttered. 

Bleak. A bleak image is something dull, something that is, 

shows that, there's no warmth or it's very wild, for example,  

a photograph or a picture of a wet December day  when the wind is blowing, the rain is coming down. 

There's no colour in the sky. There's a grey  grey background of dark clouds. There's no  

flowers because it's the wintertime. That  would be a very, very bleak image. Yeah,  

okay. Or indeed an image of a overcrowded city where there are just lines and lines of lines  

of tall buildings of these high rise  apartment blocks, all grey and dull  

against the grey sky in the background.  That, to me would also be a bleak image. 

Something that's repetitive or a bit  repetitive. So image is something to  

repetitive means over and over again, or  perhaps something that we have seen time  

and time again, so there's no difference to it. It looks the same as something else. Yeah. So a  

look at a beach or a line of traffic or, something 

on an ocean, this could all be a little  bit repetitive because we've seen these  

images time and time again. Number 11. Flawless. Well,  

flawless means without error or without  mistakes. Something almost perfection. Now,  

not sure what the definition of perfection is  for everybody because it means different things,  

but a flawless image, something that you can't  really find fault with. So when you look at it,  

it just looks like pure beauty. A flawless image  for me, when I look at a flawless image that 

iconic photograph of Marilyn  Monroe that looks to me flawless. 

Yes. It's perfect. The perfect smile for somebody.  Yeah. Flawless. Or the a picture of the Statue of  

Liberty or the Eiffel Tower. Flawless. It's  a perfect structure. No problems with it,  

no difficulties. Really good. Interesting. Exciting architecture. 

And then finally, something that looks elaborate.  Number 12 looks elaborate. An elaborate image.  

Well, it's something adorned with jewellery. So  a photograph or picture of a crown or a queen or  

king's crown would be very elaborate. Or if we if you saw 

the funeral of the Queen of England, there  were lots of elaborate images taken from the  

Queen's funeral when her coffin was lying in state inside a Westminster Abbey, surrounded by these 

soldiers who were dressed in at certain  military attire that was suitable for  

the occasion. This could be described,  in my opinion, as extremely elaborate. 

Yeah. So the coffin very elaborate. The  Queen's crown very elaborate. And the  

uniforms worn by the, the different, soldiers  from different parts of the military. Again,  

extremely elaborate, but these uniforms were  particular for that particular occasion. 

Okay. So we have that 12 advanced adjectives  that we can use to describe images. And let  

me give them to you one more time.  Powerful, humorous. Raw. Meaningful." 

Well-composed. Iconic. Evocative. 

Cluttered. Bleak. Repetitive. 

Flawless. And finally, something that looks  elaborate. Something that looks elaborate.  

So there were 12 particular adjectives.  Advanced adjectives that are describing  

certain images. So you can have an  idea in your own mind when you visit, 

an art gallery, you visit a museum, you're  checking through different images that you see 

on Instagram. All of these, you  

can use these adjectives to describe those sort of  images as what appears or what comes to your mind  

when you first look at them. So practice them. In  fact, what would be a good idea is to look up the  

internet, look at certain images, and see which of  these words you could use to match with the images  

that you see, and practice it that way. And it's a good way for you to remember  

them. And if you have any questions, you need some additional help. You need some more  

information. Well, then just come back to me at www.englishlessonviaskypecom.  

Very happy to hear from you. So is this Harry wishing you good bye  

for today. Thanks for listening and watching,  and remember to join me for the next lesson.