Let's compare these questions:
- What does she look like?
- How does she look?
There is a small difference in meaning between these two questions. I will try to explain.
1. The question "What does she look like?" asks for a physical description or a comparison to another noun.
- A: What does she look like?
- B: She is tall and has brown hair. (This is a physical description.)
- C: She looks like a model. (This is a comparison to another noun.)
2. The question "How does she look?" asks for a personal judgment (or evaluation), such as 'good' or 'bad'.
- A: How does she look?
- B: She looks great. (This is a judgment of how she looks; it isn't a description.)
- C: She also looks happy. (Again, this is a judgment, not a description.)
Let's talk about this animal.
- Q: What does it look like?
- A: It looks like a fox. (noun) It has orangeish hair. (description)
- Q: How does it look?
- A: It looks relaxed. (a judgment)
Common Mistake: How does it look like?
- What does he look like? (correct)
- How does he look? (correct)
How does he look like?(mistake)
The last sentence above is never correct. You cannot combine "How" with "like".
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- Written by Matthew Barton / Creator of EnglishCurrent.com (copyright)
Hi
I have a question here lf i have the following sentence :He is tall ,thin ,friendly and cute.
What type of question should I use ?
What does he look like or what is he like?
Thanks
Hello. I suppose ‘What is he like?’ works a little better because it encompasses characteristics like ‘friendly’. ‘What does he look like’ doesn’t match because of the word ‘friendly’. You could try another question like “How would you describe him?” that is more general.
Ok.But, if the question is like:……… does your teacher look like? How do you know whether it requires What or How?
If it ends in ‘like’, then the answer is ‘What’. We never say ‘how…look like?’