How to describe words you don't know | Circumlocution for English Learners

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Saturday Story Time: The "survival skill" every English speaker needs! 🧠🕵️‍♂️

An infographic showing three icons: a gear (function), a cube (appearance), and a brick (material) for describing unknown objects.

Saturday Story: Why You Don't Need a Perfect Vocabulary

🎥 Watch the practice video above!

Welcome back to On Your Mark's English!

Today, we are talking about a skill that separates "textbook" students from "fluent" speakers: Circumlocution.

Many students think they need to memorise the entire dictionary before they can travel or work in English.

This isn't true! Even native speakers forget words.

The difference is that native speakers don't stop talking; they describe the "missing" word.

How to Describe Anything

If you get stuck, use these sentence starters:

• "It's a type of..." (It's a type of fruit/tool/vehicle).

• "It looks like a..." (It looks like a small box).

• "It's the opposite of..." (It's the opposite of 'expensive').

• "It’s the person who..." (It's the person who fixes your car).

  
  

The Guessing Game

In today’s video, I described a specific object used for seeing small things. Did you guess it? Using games like this is the best way to train your brain to find "alternative routes" in a conversation.

Practice this weekend:

Next time you are at home, pick up a random object and try to describe it in 3 sentences without using its name.

It's harder than it looks, but it's the best way to build your speaking confidence!

🎯 Keep Growing

Check out our other daily videos to build your grammar, expressions, and pronunciation!

👉 Visit www.onyourmarksenglish.com for more.