English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate » Unit 11: Describing character

Word List
  • calm (person)
  • character [personality]
  • clever
  • confident
  • friendly
  • generous
  • hard-working
  • impatient
  • intelligent
  • lazy
  • mean
  • negative
  • nervous
  • nice
  • patient adj
  • pleasant
  • positive
  • sense of humour
  • sensible
  • serious [quiet]
  • shy
  • silly
  • talent
  • talented
  • trust
  • unfriendly
  • unkind
  • unpleasant
  • What’s he/she/it like?
  • wish
  • anxious
  • creative
  • dishonest
  • honest
  • reliable
  • stupid
  • unreliable
Exercises

11.1 ‣ Circle the correct answer.

  1. nice
    • positive
    • negative
  2. mean
    • positive
    • negative
  3. sensible
    • positive
    • negative
  4. lazy
    • positive
    • negative
  5. calm
    • positive
    • negative
  6. generous
    • positive
    • negative
  7. unpleasant
    • positive
    • negative
  8. hard-working
    • positive
    • negative
  9. silly
    • positive
    • negative
  10. nervous
    • positive
    • negative

11.2 ‣ Write the opposites using the correct prefix.

  1. kind
  2. _____friendly
  3. _____pleasant
  4. _____patient
  5. _____honest
  6. _____reliable

11.3 ‣ Describe the person in the sentences, in one word.

  1. My brother is in the office from 8 am to 6 pm every day.
  2. He has never bought me a drink in ten years. _____
  3. She often promises to do things but sometimes she forgets. _____
  4. My teacher explains things again and never gets angry. _____
  5. Emma finds it difficult to meet people and talk to strangers. _____
  6. Noah is practical and doesn’t do anything stupid. _____
  7. Our teacher is nice, but he’s quiet and he doesn’t laugh a lot. _____
  8. Danya is very relaxed and doesn’t seem to worry about things. _____
  9. My boss is really good at using his imagination to think of new ideas. _____
  10. Ava can play several musical instruments. _____

11.4 ‣ Complete the sentences.

  1. My sister can't wait for anything; she's so .
  2. I get very _____ before exams; I need to try and relax a bit more.
  3. I _____ I could paint as well as your brother; he’s so creative.
  4. Adeline hasn’t done a thing since she’s been here. Honestly, she’s so _____.
  5. I always have a laugh with my cousin – he’s got a great sense of _____.
  6. My younger sister is able to understand new ideas so quickly; she’s very _____.
  7. If Sarah says she’ll do it, then she’ll do it. I _____ her completely.
  8. He’d like to be relaxed and confident, but it’s just not part of his _____.
  9. He failed his exams, but he isn’t _____. He just didn’t do any work.
  10. Aurora helped me bake some cakes last week; she’s very _____.

11.5 ‣

Over to you

Complete the quiz on the opposite page for yourself. From all the words on the opposite page, which one would you most like to be, and which is the one you would hate to be? If possible, compare your answers with someone else.

_____

Answer Key
A ‣ Head and face

1what you are like as a person
2believe that good things will happen
3can be trusted to do what people expect you to do
4feeling sure about yourself and your abilities
5not confident, especially about meeting or talking to new people
6putting a lot of effort into your work and spending a lot of time on it
7the ability to laugh and understand when something is funny
8a serious person is quiet and doesn’t laugh very much
9able to stay calm and not get angry, especially when things take a lot of time

Common mistakes

A: What’s he like? (NOT How is he like?)
B: He’s very nice. (NOT He’s like very nice.)

B ‣ Opposites

positivenegative
generous [happy to give more money or help than is usual]mean
honest [an honest person tells the truth]dishonest
clever, intelligent [able to learn and understand things quickly]stupid
calm [relaxed and not worried or frightened]nervous, anxious

Language help

We use kind to describe someone who wants to help people a lot, and nice, friendly or pleasant for someone who is happy to talk to people. The opposites are unkind, unfriendly and unpleasant.

C ‣ Describing a friend

“The first thing I would say about my best friend is that she’s very sensible1. I’ve never known Emilia to do anything silly2, and I know I can always trust3 her. She’s also very creative4; she makes things, and she’s a very talented5 artist. I wish6 I had her talent.”

1practical; doesn’t do stupid things
2not sensible, a bit stupid
3be sure that she is honest
4good at thinking of new ideas and using her imagination
5has a natural ability
6I would like to have her talent but I haven’t got it.

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