Tall meaning in English

Learn how to use Tall correctly with Gymglish.
Test and improve your English. Start your free trial today.

TEST YOUR ENGLISH Free trial and no commitment to buy
4,7 on App Store, Play Store and Trustpilot More than 8 million learners worldwide

Definition

tall: vertically large, big, high adjective
Bruno is taller than Horatio.

Examples

  • "You're very tall."
  • "Brian : Straight and tall."
  • "So, is she tall or short?"
  • "He always believed that there was no injury, no illness too serious that it couldn't be treated by a tall glass of "Seamus Dog" Whiskey and a bowl of boiled cabbage."
  • "He's tall!"
  • "In fact, tall is large."
  • "She is tall, curvy and French, like the Eiffel Tower."
  • "You're much taller than your dog."
  • "Assistant4life (Polly Watson) says : Tall, pale and handsome, with perfect teeth and the most beautiful eyes you've ever seen!"
  • "Susie : Think taller, and someone who speaks better English."
  • "Philip : Well, you're tall, blonde, tanned and gorgeous."
  • "A giant statue: tall and proud, with hard buttocks and soft eyes, made from bronze or silver or gold!"
  • "You are so thoughtful... and tall."
  • "I thought you would be taller in person."
  • "Brian : He's tall, handsome, well-dressed, beautiful shoulders, fantastic nose—"
  • "Jackson Bollocks : Listen Mr Jones, I'm going to give you a basic lesson in materials: a tall figure made from glass would soon break, especially if it were full of liquid."
  • "Brian : He's tall, handsome, well-dressed, beautiful shoulders, fantastic nose, nice silky fingers-"
Exercise 1
With the appropriate terms used in the dialogue, describe the woman Philip is talking to!

Nationality:
Height:
Hair colour:
Philip tells the woman that he thinks she is very attractive. He describes her as:
With the appropriate terms used in the dialogue, describe the woman Philip is talking to!

Nationality: Australian 1
Height: tall 2
Hair colour: blonde 3
Philip tells the woman that he thinks she is very attractive. He describes her as: [not done] gorgeous 4
1 Australian: "Australian" is the correct answer. In the dialogue, Philip says "are you Australian?" and the woman replies "I am", which confirms that she is indeed Australian. Australians come from Australia, which is a big country famous for kangaroos, koalas, and Kylie.
2 tall: "Tall" is the best choice here. A person's "height" refers to whether they are "tall" or "short". In the dialogue, Philip says "you're tall", meaning that the woman is not short! A useful question is "how tall are you?" to ask someone to tell you their height ("I am 6 foot 2", for example).
2 short: This is incorrect. "Short" people include children, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Tom Cruise. The woman in the dialogue is "tall", which is in fact the OPPOSITE of "short".
2 fat: This is incorrect. "Fat" people are "heavy" or "overweight". There is no suggestion in the dialogue that the woman in the dialogue is "fat". Moreover, the term "height" does not apply to a person's weight.
2 thin: This is incorrect. "Thin" people are "slim", "skinny", or "light". The dialogue does not mention whether the woman is fat, thin, or average. Moreover, the term "height" does not apply to a person's weight.
3 blonde: "Blonde" is the term we were looking for here. If you "are blonde" or "have blonde hair", then you have pale or yellow hair. Famous blondes include Marilyn Monroe and Luke Skywalker. Note that this term can also be written "blond", without the "e"!
3 red: Sorry, but the woman in the dialogue doesn't have red hair. People with red hair include Chuck Norris, Ronald McDonald, and me.
3 brown: Sorry, but the woman in the dialogue doesn't have brown hair. People with brown hair include Bruno Delavigne and Jennifer Lopez.
3 black: Sorry, but the woman in the dialogue doesn't have black hair. People with black hair include Demi Moore and Jackie Chan.
4 gorgeous: "Gorgeous" is the right answer. If someone is "gorgeous", they are very attractive, "handsome", or "beautiful". We can also describe inanimate objects as "gorgeous". Here's an example: "Your apartment is gorgeous. I wish I lived here!".
Exercise 2
Complete the imaginary dialogue using terms from the conversation you just heard.

Doctor: Good Morning, Mr. Marron. How much do you ?
Jean: In France: 60 kilograms ... In The US: 130 ... on the moon: 10 kilograms.
Doctor: Wow! You're not at all. You're extremely .
Jean: Merci!
Doctor: How much water do you drink each day?
Jean: 1 or 3.8 litres.
Doctor: (choose the most appropriate question)
Jean: What's my ? 170cm. (not used in dialogue)
Complete the imaginary dialogue using terms from the conversation you just heard.

Doctor: Good Morning, Mr. Marron. How much do you weigh 1?
Jean: In France: 60 kilograms ... In The US: 130 pounds 2... on the moon: 10 kilograms.
Doctor: Wow! You're not [not done] heavy 3 at all. You're extremely [not done] light 4.
Jean: Merci!
Doctor: How much water do you drink each day?
Jean: 1 gallon 5 or 3.8 litres.
Doctor: How tall are you? 6 (choose the most appropriate question)
Jean: What's my [not done] height 7? 170cm. (not used in dialogue)
1 weigh: "How much do you weigh?" is the most common way of asking for someone's weight. In the dialogue, Philip's friend Joe "weighs 250 pounds". Note: Phonetically, "weigh" sounds exactly the same as "way"!
2 pounds: A "pound" is a unit for measuring weight. 1 pound = 0.454 kilograms. In the US, it is common to describe people's weight in pounds. Example: The average American male weighs 191 pounds.
3 heavy: If something is "heavy", it weighs a lot and is difficult to move. Example: This dead body is very heavy.
4 light: If something is "light", it weighs very little. Feathers, pieces of paper, and leaves are all light!
5 gallon: A "gallon" is a unit for measuring liquid. In the US, 1 gallon = 3.8 liters. In the dialogue, Philip says, "I need to drink a gallon of beer just to tolerate you". Philip probably isn't going to literally drink a "gallon" of beer! He is probably just using the term in an exaggerated way to mean "a lot of liquid". Another example: When I cut my finger, I lost a gallon of blood!
6 How tall are you?: "How tall are you?" is the most common way of asking for someone's height. Example: -How tall is that French guy? -Jean is 1.44 meters tall. In the dialogue, Jean incorrectly says "(Joe) must measure 5 meters!". In English, the verb "to measure" is used to talk about finding the size of something. Example: We measured the length of the bed to see if it would fit in the bedroom. "To measure" is not used to describe how tall someone is.
6 How much do you measure?: Oops! We can't use the verb "to measure" like this!
6 How high are you?: We could say "How high is that building?" or "How high is that mountain?". Unfortunately, we can only say "How high are you?" if someone has taken drugs and we want to know how intoxicated they are!
7 height: "Height" is the measurement of how tall a person is. Example: Jean is of average height.
Exercise 3
Fill in the blanks below with the correct form of the verb

Icarus visits his mother

Icarus: Hello Mother. Happy mothers' day! I you some flowers.
Mother: I thought I already you that I hate flowers.
Icarus: But, but, but I love you. That's got to count for something.
Mother: You no longer my son.
Fill in the blanks below with the correct form of the verb

Icarus visits his mother

Icarus: Hello Mother. Happy mothers' day! I [not done] brought 1 you some flowers.
Mother: I thought I already [not done] told 2 you that I hate flowers.
Icarus: But, but, but I love you. That's got to count for something.
Mother: You [not done] are 3 no longer my son.
1 brought: This is the best choice here. 'Bring' is conjugated as 'brought' in the preterit form. It is an irregular verb: bring/brought/brought. We use the simple past tense here because the act of 'bringing' (the journey Icarus makes with the flowers) finishes as soon as Icarus's arrives at his mother's house.
2 told: This is the best choice here. 'Tell' is conjugated as 'told' in the preterit form. It is an irregular verb: tell/told/told.
3 are: 'Are' is the appropriate form for the second person, present tense form of the verb 'to be'. It is the best choice here, as it indicates that Mother doesn't consider Icarus to be her son any more.
Exercise 4
Fill in the blanks below with the appropriate form of the verb. Don't forget auxiliaries and modals when necessary! If you think a verb should not change, please write it again.

Yesterday, at 9:32 AM, Horatio a big building. The man at the desk him if he him. Horatio : 'I want to a doctor'. The man him: 'This is a bank, not a hospital.' 'But I from my ears', said Horatio. The banker , 'I am sorry sir, I can't help you with that'. Horatio 'In that case, me all of your money'. 'Is this a robbery?' the banker . 'Maybe,' said Horatio.
Fill in the blanks below with the appropriate form of the verb. Don't forget auxiliaries and modals when necessary! If you think a verb should not change, please write it again.

Yesterday, at 9:32 AM, Horatio [not done] entered 1 a big building. The man at the desk [not done] asked 2 him if he [not done] could help 3 him. Horatio [not done] said 4: 'I want [not done] to speak 5 to a doctor'. The man [not done] told 6 him: 'This is a bank, not a hospital.' 'But I [not done] am bleeding 7 from my ears', said Horatio. The banker [not done] replied 8, 'I am sorry sir, I can't help you with that'. Horatio [not done] said 9 'In that case, [not done] Give 10 me all of your money'. 'Is this a robbery?' the banker [not done] inquired 11. 'Maybe,' said Horatio.
1 entered: This is the best choice here. This verb needs to be put in the simple past tense (or preterit). We know this because the term 'yesterday' indicates that this action took place in the past.
2 asked: This verb needs to be put in the simple past tense (or preterit). We know this because the term 'yesterday' in the previous sentence establishes the past tense time frame of this action.
3 could help: 'Could help' is the best choice here. This verb requires the modal verb 'could' to express the conditional sense which the sentence requires. The man is asking IF he can help or is capable of helping Horatio -- it is not certain if he will be able to. Therefore we use 'could' to express the sense of possibility within the question. 'Could' is also the past tense form of can. We can assume that the man asked Horatio 'Can I help you?' at the time this conversation took place.
4 said: We must put this verb in the past simple tense (preterit) to correctly complete this construction. The time period (yesterday) was established earlier in this paragraph. The verb 'to say' is irregular say/said/said.
5 to speak: The verb 'to want' can only be followed by another verb in the infinitive form. Example: The cat wanted to go outside. We must use the full infinitive form of the verb 'to speak' to correctly complete this construction.
6 told: 'Told' is the correct choice here. It is the past tense form of the verb 'to tell' in the 3rd person. This entire dialogue takes place in the past tense, which was established in the first sentence of the exercise.
7 am bleeding: The verb 'to bleed' is frequently used in the present progressive (or present continuous) tense to describe the 'act of bleeding'. Here Horatio is expressing that he is 'bleeding at the current moment'. The present progressive tense is formed by the auxiliary 'to be' + the 'ING' form of the verb (to bleed).
8 replied: The verb 'to reply' should be put into the simple past tense. The past tense was established in the first sentence of this exercise. Note that many verbs which end in 'y' change to 'ied' in the past tense (to cry, to marry).
9 said: This is the correct choice. The verb 'to say' should be put into the simple past tense. The past tense was established in the first sentence of this exercise. Note that 'to say' is an irregular verb: say / said / have said.
10 Give: Horatio is giving a command or a direct order to the banker here. The imperative form is constructed by using the infinitive form of the verb (to give) without the infinitive marker 'to'.
11 inquired: This is the correct choice. The verb 'to inquire' should be put into the simple past tense. The past tense was established in the first sentence of this exercise.
Exercise 5
Luna writes that one candidate "stood out from the crowd".

Which of the following phrases describes the idea of "standing out from the crowd" as it is used in Luna's email?
Luna writes that one candidate "stood out from the crowd".

Which of the following phrases describes the idea of "standing out from the crowd" as it is used in Luna's email?
Don't confuse this idiom with the action of "standing away from a crowd" which might describe a "shy" or "timid" person.
Although someone who is much taller than other people would literally "stand out from the crowd", the idiom is generally used figuratively. Luna is not referring to Trey's height here.
Although you may notice someone in a crowd who was a lot "louder" or "noisier" than other people, this is not what the idiom "to stand out from the crowd" means.
"Standing out from a crowd" is not the same as being a "born leader". A "born leader" is a natural leader: someone who earns the trust and respect of people very easily. Examples of some people who were "born leaders" are God, Yoda and Gandhi. These three fine people all accepted a calling to save people and lead them to a better life.
When someone "stands out from the crowd", there is something about them that is different from the others. It may be something physical, but in this case it is Trey's personal qualities, experience and qualifications which set him apart from the rest of the candidates. This makes him "stand out from the crowd". A "crowd" is a group or gathering of people.

Still unsure of the best way to use 'Tall'? Improve your English thanks to our online English lessons. We offer a free test as well as a free level assessment!

What our users say:

Pleasure

         

I enjoy doing my online English lessons. Only ten minutes daily are enough...Thank you!

Innovative

         

I love your innovative method which allows me to learn a new language and have fun at the same time!

Unique

         

Your method is unique! Your courses have helped me to progress and gain confidence during my travels.

Progress

         

Gymglish has allowed me to improve my English. A daily routine I wouldn't miss for anything in the world!

More testimonials.

Test your English with Gymglish today and get a free level assessment

Absolutely free - no strings attached.

TEST YOUR ENGLISH