English Vocabulary in Use Advanced » Unit 8: Describing people: positive and negative qualities

Word List
  • altruistic
  • astute
  • chauvinistic
  • cunning
  • diligent
  • distrustful
  • dogged
  • dogmatic
  • down-to-earth
  • extravagant
  • frugal
  • garrulous
  • generous
  • get carried away
  • idealistic
  • immoderate
  • industrious
  • inflexible
  • insecure
  • intuitive
  • magnetic personality
  • methodical
  • morose
  • open-minded
  • opportunistic
  • parsimonious
  • perfectionist
  • pithy
  • placid
  • principled
  • resolute
  • serious
  • sharp-tongued
  • shrewd
  • sly
  • sober
  • stingy
  • stubborn
  • superficial
  • tactless
  • talkative
  • terse
  • thrifty
  • tolerant
  • unprincipled
  • unscrupulous
  • unstinting
  • verbose
  • witty
  • work-obsessed
  • brusque
  • chatty
  • naive
  • obliging
  • obstinate
  • sullen
Exercises

8.1 ‣ Read the comments and then answer the questions.

I wish Tatyana would calm down and not get so over-excited about things.
Alice can always be relied upon to make the right decision.
Harry is such a practical and sensible person.
Tom thinks his country is better than any other country and doesn’t listen to reason.
Sophie is always so calm.
Andrey has a tendency to say things that upset people.
  1. Who is placid? _____
  2. Who is down-to-earth? _____
  3. Who tends to get carried away? _____
  4. Who is often tactless?_____
  5. Who is shrewd? _____
  6. Who is chauvinistic? _____

8.2 ‣ Which colleagues does the speaker have a positive opinion of and which a negative one?

‘Ellie, my boss, is very astute and she can be very witty, but I find her assistant, David, a bit sullen and obstinate. Julia, who I sit next to, is a bit stingy and extremely work-obsessed. I do a lot of work with Marco, who’s very obliging, supportive and tolerant.’

Positive: _____

Negative: _____

8.3 ‣ Fill the gaps with words from the opposite page. You are given the first letter(s) and clues to the meaning in brackets.

  1. He’s rather o_____. He always tries to use situations to his own advantage. (devious)
  2. She has an i_____ approach to life rather than a rational one. (instinctive)
  3. My father was a somewhat quick-tempered and m_____ sort of person. (gloomy)
  4. He was a very altruistic person, almost to the point of being n_____. (too trusting)
  5. Aisha has a m_____ personality. Everyone is drawn to her. (attractive)
  6. Rob is a very conscientious and m_____ worker. (careful, systematic)
  7. I find Eva a bit b_____ and rude. (speaks in a quick and rude way)
  8. She’s fun-loving but she can be a bit s_____ at times. (doesn’t care about serious things)
  9. I think Max is i_____. (doesn’t have much confidence, not really sure of himself)
  10. I’m always happy to go out for a meal with Kerstin. She’s such g_____ c_____. (pleasant and entertaining to spend time with)
  11. She was very c_____ in speaking out against corruption. (brave, unafraid to speak or act)
  12. Owen’s a p_____. He’s never happy if he doesn’t get an A-grade in every test.

8.4 ‣ Find adjectives on the opposite page related to these abstract nouns.

  1. altruism _____
  2. parsimony _____
  3. diligence_____
  4. placidity _____
  5. industriousness _____
  6. rebellion_____
  7. distrust _____
  8. terseness _____
  9. naivety_____
  10. unscrupulousness_____

8.5 ‣ The adjectives you found in the exercise above are more common in formal contexts. Give a synonym for each word that would be more likely to be used in informal situations (e.g. a friendly, informal conversation). Use a dictionary if necessary.

  1. altruistic: _____
  2. parsimonious: _____
  3. diligent: _____
  4. placid: _____
  5. industrious: _____
  6. rebellious: _____
  7. distrustful: _____
  8. terse: _____
  9. naive: _____
  10. unscrupulous: _____

8.6 ‣

Over to you

Which adjectives from this unit could you use to describe you, your friends and your family members?
Answer Key
A ‣ Character and personality

Chinese astrology organises years into cycles of 12, and asserts that the year you are born in affects your character. Each year is named aft er an animal.

animalyearcharacteristics
RAT
1972, 1984, 1996, 2008imaginative, charming, generous, quick-tempered, opportunistic1
BUFFALO
1973, 1985, 1997, 2009conservative, methodical2, conscientious, chauvinistic3, a born leader
TIGER
1974, 1986, 1998, 2010sensitive, emotional, tends to get carried away4, stubborn, rebellious, courageous
RABBIT
1975, 1987, 1999, 2011affectionate, obliging5, sentimental, superficial6, often insecure7
DRAGON
1976, 1988, 2000, 2012fun-loving, popular, a perfectionist8, gifted, may sometimes be tactless9
SNAKE
1977, 1989, 2001, 2013charming, intuitive10, stingy
HORSE
1978, 1990, 2002, 2014diligent11, independent, placid12, outgoing, can be selfish and cunning
GOAT
1979, 1991, 2003, 2015elegant, artistic, always ready to complain, over-anxious
MONKEY
1980, 1992, 2004, 2016witty, magnetic personality13, good company, can be distrustful14
ROOSTER
1981, 1993, 2005, 2017industrious, shrewd15, supportive16, decisive, extravagant17
DOG
1982, 1994, 2006, 2018down-to-earth18, altruistic19, morose20, sharp-tongued21
PIG
1983, 1995, 2007, 2019intellectual, tolerant, naive22, often materialistic

1 using situations for own benefit
2 systematic, careful
3 too patriotic
4 become too excited and lose control
5 ready to help
5 not caring about serious things
7 not confident, uncertain about your own abilities
8 someone who is not satisfied if things are not 100% perfect
9 inclined to say things that upset or off end people
10 understanding instinctively
11 hard-working
12 calm, does not easily become excited or angry
13 personality that attracts people to you
14 not trusting, suspicious of others
15 having good judgement
16 gives help or encouragement
17 spends too much money or uses too much of something
18 practical and sensible
19 thinking of others rather than yourself
20 gloomy
21 inclined to speak in a severe and critical way
22 without enough experience of life, trusting too easily

B ‣ Positive and negative associations

Charming, generous – is that how you think of yourself? Selfish, cunning – that can’t be me!

Some words in the chart above have positive associations, others negative ones. Here are some words from the chart, together with other words that share some aspects of their meaning. The table shows which have positive and which have negative associations.

positivenegative
generous, unstintingextravagant, immoderate
resolute, doggedstubborn, obstinate
thrifty, frugalstingy, parsimonious
diligent, industriouswork-obsessed, (a) workaholic (noun)
idealistic, principleddogmatic, inflexible
shrewd, astutecunning, sly
sober, seriousmorose, sullen
witty, pithybrusque, terse
tolerant, open-mindedunprincipled, unscrupulous
chatty, talkativeverbose, garrulous

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