7. 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)

II. 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.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

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-

………………………………………

2

………………………………………

-tempered

3

………………………………………

-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 changes their behaviour so that you never know what they are going to do

7. someone who shows understanding towards other people's feelings or problems or someone who gets upset or hurt easily

Phrases to be remembered

To be decent (conscientious) all around - быть порядочным ( добросовестным ) во всех отношениях

To be in good(bad) humour - быть в хорошем(плохом) настроении

To be(not) in the mood for joking - иметь (не иметь) настроения шутить

To deceive - обманывать

To have a high(low) opinion of smb - быть высокого(невысокого) мнения о ком то

To have a good(bad) sence of humour - иметь (не иметь) чувство юмора

To insult - оскорблять

To loose one's temper - терять самообладание

To neglect one's duties - пренебрегать своими обязанностями

To offend - обижать

To get offended - обижаться

To praise - хвалить

To put on airs - напускать на себя важность

To respect - уважать

To shirk smth - увиливать от чего-либо

To tease - дразнить

To treat smb well(badly) - относиться к кому-либо хорошо(плохо)

To let smb down - подводить кого-либо