People’s personalities, skills and abilities

1. Complete these descriptions with the words from the list.

modest supportive temperamental unreliable stingy

sociable independent easygoing

a. John is so ___________! He always has such great ideas and never takes any credit for
them.
b. The Chans like meeting new people and having friends over for dinner. They’re one of
the most ______________ couples I know.
c. You can’t trust Jane. She always promises to do something, but then she never does it.
She’s pretty_____________.
d. Alex wants to be an actor. It’s hard to break into the business, but his family is very
______________ of his dream.
e. I never know how to act around Tina! One minute she’s in a good mood, and the next
minute she’s in a bad mood. She’s so _______________
f. Susan doesn’t like giving things to other people. She’s so ________
g. Jim doesn’t usually ask other people for help. He’s an ___________ boy
h. Steven doesn’t worry much or get angry easily. He’s the most __________ people
I know.

2. Give the opposites of the adjectives.

e.g. competent – incompetent
a. attractive
b. cooperative
c. dependent
d. experienced
e. flexible
f. formal
g. reasonable
h. reliable
i. sensitive
j. sociable
k. creative
l. decisive
m. organized
n. persuasive
o. patient

3. Strengths and Weaknesses

The first thing you need to do when starting the job-hunting process is a self-assessment of
your own strengths and weaknesses. This process will help you identify the skills,
qualifications, experience, knowledge and personal characteristics that employers are
looking for.
Important phrases
Strengths
I am excellent at….. (for example: making decisions)
I’m good at……..
I’m able to………..(for example: delegate /work independently etc.)
I’m interested in….. (for example: technology, languages, etc)
I recently managed to…..... (for example: run a marathon/manage a project through all its
stages etc).
I am fluent in …………… (for example: English)
Etc…

Weaknesses
I’m not very good at….
I could be better at…..
I would like to be able to….
I can (sometimes)....... (for example: find it difficult to make decisions/manage my time
effectively etc.)
I can be (a little bit)......... (for example: indecisive/disorganized etc.)
Etc….