A lot of my beginner students seem to be confused by the use of the word “like” in questions. Let’s have a look at the examples below:
Question 1: what’s he like?
or in other words: “what type of person is he?” or “tell me something about his personality”.
Hence, a possible answer could be “He is friendly and easy-going”.
Remember! Never answer this question starting with “he is like…”
Question 2: what does he look like?
or in other words “Can you describe his physical appearance?”
To this question, you could reply “He is tall, thin and has got brown hair”
Question 3: who does he look like?
or in other words “Who does he resemble to?”
You could answer saying “He looks like Brad Pitt!”.
Question 4: what does he like?
or in other words “What are his interests / hobbies etc?”
and so a sensible answer could be “he likes swimming, Chinese food and spy-stories”
Question number 1 could also be used to ask you about a city.
Look at the example below:
A:“What’s Paris like?” (“what sort of place is Paris?”)
B: “Paris is big, chaotic and expensive”
Remember that if someone wants to know your opinion about Paris, he or she would probably use the question “What do you like about Paris?” or simply “Do you like Paris?”.
Look at the following dialogue:
A: “Do you like Paris?”
B: “Yes, I love it!?”
A: “What do you like about Paris?”
B: “I like the people, cafes and walking along the Seine!”
Hope this is clear, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment!:)