C. Attitudes towards other people
Enjoying others' company: sociable gregarious
Disagreeing with others: quarrelsome argumentative
Taking pleasure in others' pain: cruel sadistic
Relaxed in attitude to self and others: easy-going even-tempered
Not polite to others: impolite rude ill-mannered discourteous
Telling the truth to others: honest trustworthy reliable sincere
Unhappy if others have what one does not have oneself: jealous envious
D. Opposites
Many positive words describing character have clear opposites with a negative meaning
| Positive warm and friendly kind nice, pleasant generous (= happy to give/share) optimistic (= thinks positively) cheerful (= happy and smiling) relaxed and easy-going strong sensitive honest (= always tells the truth) | Negative cold and unfriendly unkind horrible, unpleasant mean (= never gives to others) pessimistic (= thinks negatively) miserable (= always seems unhappy) tense (= nervous; worries a lot; not calm) weak insensitive (= does not think about others' feelings) dishonest |
Jane is very tenseat the moment because of her exams, but she's usually quite relaxed and easy-going about most things.
I think the weather influences me a lot: when it's sunny I feel more cheerful and optimistic, but when it's cold and raining I get very miserable.
He seemed a bit unfriendly at first, but now I've got to know him I realise he's very warmand kind.
The shop assistant told me that the dress I tried on looked better on people younger than me. I thought that was very insensitiveof her, but at least she was being honest, I suppose.
E. Character in action
People often talk about qualities of character that you may need in a work situation. Again, some of these words come in pairs of opposites: one positive and one negative.
| Positive hard-working punctual (= always on time) reliable clever, bright (infml) flexible ambitious | Negative lazy (= never does any work) not very punctual; always late unreliable (= you cannot trust / depend on someone like this) stupid, thick (infml) inflexible (= a very fixed way of thinking; unable to change) unambitious (=no desire to be successful and get a better job) |
Some pairs of opposites do not have a particularly positive or negative meaning:
He is very shy when you first meet him because he finds it difficult to talk to people and make conversation; but when he knows people quite well he's much more self-confident.
People often say the British are very reserved (= do not show their feelings), but when you get to know them they can be very emotional like anyone else.
F. Using nouns
Some important qualities are expressed through nouns.
One of her great qualities is that she usesher initiative. (= she can think for
herself and take the necessary action; she does not need to wait for orders all the time)
That boy has got no common sense (= he does stupid things and doesn't think what he is doing). His sister, on the other hand, is very sensible. (= has lots of common sense)
G. One person's meat is another person's poison
Some characteristics can be either positive or negative depending on your point of view. The words in the right-hand column mean roughly the same as the words in the left-hand column except that they have negative rather than positive connotations.
| determined thrifty/economical self-assured assertive original frank/direct/open broad-minded inquiring generous innocent ambitious | obstinate stubborn pig-headed miserly mean tight-fisted self-important arrogant full of oneself (colloquial) aggressive bossy (colloquial) peculiar weird eccentric odd blunt abrupt brusque curt unprincipled permissive inquisitive nosy (colloquial) extravagant naive pushy (colloquial) |
III. VOCABULARY EXERCISES
1. Organise these words into pairs of opposites and put them in the columns below. Do you know any people with these personality traits?
| mean clever nice lazy relaxed hard-working tense cheerful generous unpleasant stupid miserable bad-tempered creative critical disorganized efficient forgetful impatient level-headed moody punctual reliable strict |
| Positive ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… | Negative ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… ……………………… |
Do you know any people with these personality traits?
e. g. "My neighbour is bad-tempered …"
2. Match these words with their opposites.
| A. | 1. clever 2. extroverted 3. rude 4. cruel 5. generous 6. unsociable | introverted tight-fisted courteous gregarious kind-hearted half-witted |
B.Look at the two groups of adjectives below. Those in group A are favourable, those in group B are unfavourable. Pair the adjectives in group A with their opposites in group B.
| A amusing calm cheerful clever even-tempered generous good-looking hard-working pleasant polite self-confident sensitive sincere tolerant witty | a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o | B stupid disagreeable boring humourless hypocritical lazy mean miserable moody narrow-minded plain quick-tempered rude shy unfeeling |
Which five adjectives in group A do you think are the most important in a friend? Which five adjectives in group B describe people you dislike most?
3. Do you think that the speaker likes or dislikes the people s/he is talking about?
| 1. Di's very thrifty. 2. Molly's usually frank. 3. Liz's quite broad-minded. 4. Sam can be aggressive. | 5. Dick's quite bossy. 6. I find Dave self-important. 7. Don't you think Jim's nosy? 8. Jill is very original. |
Reword the sentences above to give the opposite impression. Example:Di's very stingy.
4. How would you describe the person in each of these descriptions?
1. He never bought me a drink all the time we were together.
2. I have to tell her what to do every minute of the working day. She wouldn't even open a window without someone's permission.
3. He often promises to do things but half the time he forgets.
4. She's always here on time.
5. I don't think he's done any work since he's been here.
6. She finds it difficult to meet people and talk to strangers.
7. He could work in any of the departments, and it doesn't matter to him if he's on his own or part of a team.
8. One of the great things about her is that she is so aware of what other people think or feel.
9. Bob, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He is always making people angry or upset because he just doesn't consider their feelings.
10.The other thing about Bob is that he really wants to get the supervisor's job and then become boss for the whole department.
5. Magazines often publish questionnaires which are supposed to analyse your character for you. Look at the words below and then match them to the question which aims to decide whether a person is like that.
Example:If you arrange to meet at 7 p.m., do you arrive at 7 p.m.? Reliable
argumentative sensitive sociable extravagant assertive inquisitive
1. Do you prefer to be in the company of other people?
2. Do you find it easy to tell your boss if you feel he or she has treated you badly?
3. Do you always look out of the window if you hear a car draw up?
4. Do you often buy your friends presents for no particular reason?
5. Do you frequently disagree with what other people say?
6. Do you lie awake at night if someone has said something unkind to you?
6. What questions like those in Ex. 5 could you ask to try to find out whether a person is the following:
| 1 thrifty 2 blunt | 3 sensible 4 intelligent | 5 even-tempered 6 original | 7 obstinate |
7. What nouns can be formed from these adjectives? Use a dictionary to help you.
Example:kind kindness
| punctual confident sensitive kind | optimistic generous strong friendly | reliable ambitious flexible honest | lazy stupid shy pleasant |
8. Can you complete each of these word forks?
| 1 self- | ……………………………………… | ……………………………………… | -tempered | ……………………………………… | -minded |
Write a sentence to illustrate the meanings of each of your words.
9. Choose five or six adjectives from the Essential Vocabulary which you think best describe either your own or a friend's character. How do you or your friend demonstrate these characteristics?Example:Sociable - I am sociable because I love being with other people.
10.Work with a partner. Match the adjectives describing character with the definitions.
a. prone to exaggeration b. deceitful c. sensitive d. hypocritical
e. unpredictable f. sincere g. naive h. fickle
1. someone who keeps changing their mind about people or things (negative)
2. someone who wants others to think they have better morals than they have; they say one thing and do another (negative)
3. a tendency to say things are better, worse or more important than they really are
4. when you trust people too much and believe what they say as a result of your innocence and lack of experience (negative)
5. someone who behaves dishonestly and tries to keep the truth hidden (negative)
6. someone who behaves dishonestly and tries to keep the truth hidden (negative)
7. someone who changes their behaviour so that you never know what they are going to do
8. someone who shows understanding towards other people's feelings or problems or someone who gets upset or hurt easily
Now with a partner, write your own definition of these words.
generous unreliable violent passionate sensible kind
11.Listen to four conversations about these people. Check (3) the adjective that best describes each person.
| Best description | |||
| 1. a boss ђ creative ђ forgetful ђ serious | 2. a co-worker ђ unfriendly ђ generous ђ strange | 3. a teacher ђ moody ђ patient ђ hardworking | 4. a relative ђ bad-tempered ђ disorganized ђ reliable |