Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[organica]

Can you use "pure" to describe someone whose personality is honest and sincere, but is still distinguished from "naive," "unexperienced" and "innocent?"

Thank you very much.

[lotus]

Hi organica,

You can say "she is of a pure heart" or "she has a pure heart" or "her heart is pure."


-lotus

[alan.es]

I would agree with lotus that you need to combine it with an expression using heart or, possibly, mind.

She is pure-minded, pure of mind.

If you use it as a direct adjective to describe a person, it normally implies that they have had no sexual experience. It's not really an adjective used to describe people nowadays.

[organica]

Thank you very much, Alan and Lotus.