V. Write one or more sentences with a similar meaning. Use the words given in brackets.

Example: Michael is 15 years old.(mid)

Michael is in his mid-teens.

1. Mrs Thomas is 45. ( aged; over) 2. Helen is 25. ( mid; prime) 3. Alex is 17. ( under; youth; teens) 4. Our grandmother is 73. ( early; over; past) 5. He retired when he was 59 or so. ( about) 6. Sarah went to university when she was 19. ( late; nearly) 7. My sister came of age last year. (teens; under)

VI. Write about the age of people in your family in as many ways as you can.

VII. Ask your groupmates questions about a) their age; b) the age of their family members. Follow the models:

a) - How old are you? ( What’s your age?)

- I’m in my late teens.

- Are you?

- Yes, I’m 17.

b) - How old is your father? ( What’s your father’s age?)

- He is in his mid-forties.

- Is he?

- Yes, he is 45.

VIII. Re-write these sentences making use of compound adjectives. (Compound adjectives are adjectives made of two or more words).

E.g. My son is two years old. – I’ve got a two-year-old son.

1. My son is eleven. – I’ve got an ………….. son. 2. We’ve got a daughter of six. - We’ve got a ………… daughter. 3. Their baby is only two months old. - They’ve got a ……….baby. 4. Their twins are ten years old now. – They’ve got ……….twins.

IX. Famous quotes

Complete these quotes with the following words:

Age feel income forty youth young

1. You are only as old as you ………. .

2. Life begins at ……… .

3. Women lie about their ………; men lie about their ……… .

4. …….. lasts longer than the …….. think .

Do you agree with the quotes? Why or why not?

BUILD

fat

stout

plump

overweight

well-built

stocky

thin

slim

skinny

lanky

of small/medium/powerful/athletic build

broad-shouldered

Vocabulary notes

build n [C;U] shape and size, especially of the human body, e.g. a powerful build/ My brother and I are of the same build. We can also use the word figure, when we consider the human shape from the point of view of being attractive, e.g. She has a good figure.

fat adj weighing too much because you have too much flesh on your body. It is a very direct word. You might use it about yourself but it will usually cause offence if you use it about somebody else, e.g. I’m so fat at the moment. Syn. stout, plump, overweight. Saying that somebody is stout, plump, or overweight is more polite than saying they are fat. e.g. He is slightly overweight. She is 10 kilos overweight. He was a plump red-faced man. My teacher was a stout old lady. Plump is often used to talk about women and children meaning fat and rounded in a pleasant way, e.g. a plump baby/ The nurse was a cheerful plump woman.

well-built adj having a big strong body. It is a fairly polite way to describe somebody with a large, strong or fat body, e.g. John was a powerful, well-built man.

stocky adj thic k, short and strong, e.g. He was short and stocky.

thin adj having little fat on the body. It is a general word and is usually, but not always, disapproving, e.g. thin arms/legs/lips etc She looked thin after her illness. Teenage girls all seem to want to be thin.Syn. slim, skinny, lanky. Slim means thin in an attractive way, e.g. her lovely slim figure/ a slim young woman/ a slim waist/ I wish I were as slim as you. Skinny is a fairly informal word meaning very thin, which is usually disapproving, e.g. Some supermodels are far too skinny. Lanky means tall and thin and moving awkwardly, e.g. a lanky young man

EXERCISES

I. Match the pairs of sentences with the pictures on the right:

(Vocabulary Organiser Unit 9 Ex1)

II. Transcribe and translate the words:

Build, stout, medium, athletic, broad-shouldered, fat, overweight, lanky.

III. Give English equivalents of the following Russian words:

статный, пухленький, толстый, полный, худой, стройный, долговязый, тощий, широкоплечий, коренастый

IV. Decide whether these statements are true or false:

1. Lanky means ungracefully tall and thin. 2. Slim people are short and plump. 3. Skinny means unattractively thin. 4. Someone who is stout is rather fat and heavy. 5. Well-built means small and well-proportioned. 6. An overweight person weighs more than is expected or usual. 7. If a person has a big strong body he is fat. 8. Plump people look fat and unattractive. 9. Someone who is stocky is tall and strong.