the look on somone's face

Example 1:

Brother: Did you see the look on mom's face?

Sister: Yeah! She is really mad! What should we do?

Brother: We need to apologize first, then go buy some flowers!

Example 2:

Boyfriend: Hey, what's wrong? You don't like your Valentine's gift?

Girlfriend: Nothing is wrong. Of course I love it.

Boyfriend: Are you sure? The look on your face is making me worry.

Girlfriend: Well, now that you ask.....

the look on someone's face is an expression you can use when a person's facial expression gives you information about their feelings.

the look = the expression

In Example 1: Brother and Sister are talking about their Mom. The can see their Mom's face is angry! Mom's face looks angry, so the children can know she is angry.

In Example 2: Boyfriend just gave a gift to Girlfriend for Valentine's day. Boyfriend can see a disappointed expression on his girlfriend's face even though she says she loves the gift. Her expression is showing her true emotion.


some structures to use with this expression:

I can tell by the look on your face that you are + (emotion)
I can tell by the look on your face that you are angry. Let's talk about it.

Did you see the look on (someone's) face?
Did you see the look on the boss' face? Be careful today!

This idiom was taken from the LSI textbook "Speaking Transitions." This book is used at LSI schools to teach Level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information please visit www.languagesystems.com