Daily English Phrases
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Entries in descriptions (2)

Tuesday
Nov092010

“She is highly motivated, reliable, and pleasant to work with.”

Your former employee is applying for a new job and has asked you to write her a letter of recommendation. You want to write positive things about her. You write:

She is highly motivated, reliable, and pleasant to work with.

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Sunday
Oct242010

“The outside was crispy, and the inside was juicy and tender.”

You went to a restaurant, and now you're writing a review of it on a restaurant-reviews website. You ordered some fried chicken that you liked, and now you're describing it:

The outside was crispy, and the inside was juicy and tender.

(something) is crispy

"Crispy" describes food that you eat. Chicken that is crispy on the outside has skin that is browned, dry, and hard to the touch but easy to bite through. Some other examples of food that is supposed to be crispy are:

  • french fries
  • bacon
  • chips

"Crispy" is almost always a good thing for food. However, sometimes when food is burnt, people will make a joke by calling it "crispy".

(something) is juicy

Meat that is "juicy" has liquid inside it (in a good way!). The opposite of "juicy" for meat is "dry". "Juicy" can also be used to describe pears, watermelons, berries, tomatoes, hamburgers, etc. The word "juicy" has a positive feeling associated with it. A word with a similar meaning but a negative association is "squishy". If you eat some food that has some kind of liquid inside, but it's not supposed to, you can describe it as "squishy".

(something) is tender

"Tender" means "soft". People usually like meat to be tender. You can also cook vegetables until they are tender. "Tender" and "juicy" are often used together to describe food. A way to describe something that's soft but in a bad way is "limp". If someone over-cooks a vegetable, like asparagus, you can call it "limp".