Level II

Task 1. Form words with the opposite meaning by using the prefixes un-, in-, im-, ir-, dis-, il-, mis-.

kind	pleasant	fair	reliable	personal
balanced	friendly	tolerant	sincere	perfect
efficient	correct	sane	convenient	caring
responsible	satisfied	honest	literate	obedient
patient	possible	practical	polite	mature
logical	rational	understand	selfish	sociable
regular	legal	pronounce	informal	active

Task 2. Look at these pairs of adjectives used to describe personal qualities.

A. Which pairs are positive and which are negative in meaning?

1. sensitive and thoughtful

2. dishonest and unreliable

3. mean and tight-fisted

4. broad-minded and tolerant

5. thoughtless and self-centred

6. lively and inquisitive

7. shy and insecure

8. out-going and independent

9. ambitious and single-minded

B. Which words in A have similar and/or opposite meanings to the words below?

trustworthy free-spirited inconsiderate confident

dependable narrow-minded generous selfish

C. Match the pairs of adjectives given in A with a description below.

1. He’s a liar, and you can’t ask him to do anything for you.

2. He never buys his friends a drink in a bar.

3. She knows exactly what she wants to achieve in life and how to get it.

4. He listens to other people’s opinions, and knows there are always two sides to an argument.

5. She just doesn’t seem to realise that what she does could hurt other people’s feelings. It’s all Me! Me! Me! with her!

6. She is very quiet and goes red if anyone speaks to her.

7. He loves parties and doing his own thing.

8. She’s always asking questions – always wants to know things.

9. She never forgets my birthday.

D. Read the descriptions of different people. Then fill in the gaps with words from A, B.

1. Fiona loves parties – especially her own. That’s because she likes to be the centre of attention. She’s very __________ and __________.

2. William loves gossip. He always wants to know what everybody else is up to. That’s because he’s __________ and __________.

3. Don’t invite John. He never buys a drink, and he’ll probably steal some of your CDs. He’s __________ and __________.

4. What I like about Kate is the way she listens to people, and remembers small things about them. She’s so__________ and __________.

Task 3.

A. Decide whether these expressions are positive or negative.

1. She’s generous to a fault.

2. He’s the life and soul of the party.

3. He’s a bit off-hand with people.

4. She’s ever so kind.

5. He keeps himself to himself.

6. He’s full of himself.

B. Match them to one of the adjectives below.

anti-social rude extravagant very kind very sociable arrogant

Task 4.

A. Which words have similar meanings?

B. Which words have opposite meanings?

affectionate

bad-tempered

caring

childish

easygoing

friendly

funny

generous

good-tempered

honest

kind

mature

mean

nice

out-going

patient

selfish

shy

sociable

thoughtful

thoughtless

C. Which of the words above would you use to describe the people below? Sometimes there is more than one possible answer.

1. She gives a lot of money to charity, and she likes to share everything she has with other people.

2. He’s great to go out with to parties and discos. He makes me laugh.

3. He never gets angry. He’s always calm and relaxed.

4. She never thinks about how other people may feel.

5. He’s very loving. He likes to show that he cares about me.

6. Sometimes he does stupid things. He should grow up!

7. He doesn’t like spending his money.

8. She is only interested in herself.

Task 5. Match the descriptions to the jobs.

sales rep policeman nurse computer programmer

a. You have to be patient and caring, good-tempered most of the time, and kind and friendly. It’s hard work. Sometimes ill people are very impatient.

b. You need to be patient and honest with people, and you shouldn’t be unfriendly. But you also have to be very hard on people who are breaking the law.

c. You have to be very out-going and friendly. You have to be good at talking, too. You should also be honest, especially when describing your product.

d. You have to be patient and good at your job. But, it doesn’t really matter if you are shy, selfish or thoughtless – just don’t break the machine!

Task 6. Which of the following are good personality characteristics and which are bad characteristics?