UNIT 3

Talking About Experiences and

Describing People’s Character

General Objective : To talk about experience

Specific Objectives : To describe people’s characters
To use Simple Past Tense
To use Present Perfect
Grammar Points : Adjectives, Past Tense and Present Perfect Tense

1. Personality Adjectives
Definition and Meaning of an Action Verb
What is an Adjectives? Adjectives are, quite simply, descriptive words. An adjective is a word
which qualifies a noun, that shows or points out some distinguishing mark or feature of the
noun. An adjective can come before the noun it describes or after Be and other linking verbs
(look, seem, become, etc)

How would you describe someone’s personality?

Look at these three questions which look similar, but have very different meanings:

What is she like?

“She is outgoing and talkative.”

What does she look like?

“She is short, slim and she has big brown eyes.”

What does she like?

“She likes swimming, reading and eating cheese.”

1.1 List of Descriptive Adjectives

Descriptive adjectives can be divided into different categories :

qualities
sound Descriptive
Adjectives
Colours ages

sizes time
taste
touch personality
shapes adjectives

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1.1.1 Positive Personality Adjectives

The following positive Personality Adjectives are in common use in the English language.
Negative personality adjectives are listed in a separate table below:

Positive Personality Adjectives

adaptable exuberant productive

adorable fabulous protective
agreeable fair proud
alert faithful punctual
alluring fantastic quiet
ambitious fearless receptive
amused fine reflective
boundless frank relieved
brave friendly resolute
bright funny responsible
calm generous rhetorical
capable gentle righteous
charming glorious romantic
cheerful good sedate
coherent happy seemly
comfortable harmonious selective
confident helpful self-assured
cooperative hilarious sensitive
courageous honorable shrewd
credible impartial silly
cultured industrious sincere
dashing instinctive skillful
dazzling jolly smiling
debonair joyous splendid
decisive kind steadfast
decorous kind-hearted stimulating
delightful knowledgeable successful
detailed level succinct
determined likeable talented
diligent lively thoughtful
discreet lovely thrifty
dynamic loving tough
eager lucky trustworthy
efficient mature unbiased
elated modern unusual
eminent nice upbeat
enchanting obedient vigorous
encouraging painstaking vivacious
endurable peaceful warm
energetic perfect willing
entertaining placid wise
enthusiastic plausible witty
excellent pleasant wonderful
excited pleasant zany

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Negative Personality Adjectives
The Negative personality adjectives are listed in the table below:

Negative Personality Adjectives

abrasive fierce ruthless

abrupt filthy sad
abusive finicky scary
afraid flashy secretive
aloof flippant selfish
ambiguous foolish silly
angry forgetful slow
annoyed frantic sneaky
anxious fretful snobbish
arrogant frightened sore
ashamed furtive spendthrift
awful greedy squeamish
bad grieving stingy
belligerent grouchy strange
bewildered gruesome sulky
boorish grumpy tacky
bored guarded tense
boring gullible terrible
callous helpless testy
careless hesitant thick-skinned
clumsy homeless thoughtless
combative horrible threatening
confused hungry tight
cowardly hurt timid
crazy ignorant tired
creepy ill tiresome
cruel irresolute troubled
cynical jealous truculent
dangerous jittery typical
deceitful lacking undesirable
defeated lazy unsuitable
defective lonely unsure
defiant malicious upset
demonic materialistic uptight
depressed mean vague
deranged mysterious vengeful
disagreeable naive venomous
disillusioned nasty volatile
disturbed naughty voracious
domineering nervous vulgar
draconian noisy wary
embarrassed obnoxious wasteful
envious outrageous weak
erratic panicky weary
evasive pathetic wicked
evil possessive worried
faded quarrelsome worthless
fanatical repulsive wretched

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Some of the words with the meaning:
Active She/he likes to play sport or do physical things
Bright She/he is intelligent
Cunning She/he uses her intelligence secretly/mysteriously to get what she wants
Diligent She/he is hardworking.
Extroverted She/he is very outgoing.
Funny She/he makes people laugh
Generous She/he likes to ‘give’ to help others.
Honest She/he tells the truth
Imaginative She/he has a good imagination
Jealous She/he doesn’t like others to succeed (negative)
Kind She/he is nice, gentle and helpful
Lazy She/he doesn’t like to do anything / She is happy doing nothing (negative)
Moody She/he often becomes angry and unfriendly because she is unhappy (negative)
Naughty Her/his behavior is bad (usually for children)
Optimistic She/he is positive about the future
Pessimistic She/he thinks things will end badly (negative)
Quiet She/he doesn’t say much. She prefers to listen (negative)
Rude She/he is not polite, and she offends other people
Sensible She/he has good common sense and judgment.
Thoughtful She/he carefully thinks about other people and how to help them.
Upbeat She is positive and in good mood
Wonderful She/he is great
Youthful She/he is young at heart.
Violent She/he will hurt / She is aggressive (negative)
Examples:
1. James is an honest man.
2. Young people nowadays are very moody.
3. I like Mary because she always tells funny stories.
4. My boss is a wonderful person.
5. I'm not always optimistic.
6. You used to be a rude person.
7. I wouldn’t be near her if she’s angry, she can get very violent.
8. Laura is very bright; I like talking to her.
9. You are so thoughtful for bringing me this present.
10. My brother is very active; he is usually in the gym.

Try to find other personality and write your own personality!

2. Present Perfect

2.1 Form
To form a sentence in the Present Perfect, you need:
1. The proper conjugation of the auxiliary verb "to have".
2. The Past Participle of your verb.

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2.1.1 Auxiliary Verb "to have"
We conjugate the auxiliary verb "to have" the same way we would conjugate the normal verb
"to have".

Person Singular Plural

First I have We have
Second You have You have
Third He/she/it has They have
As you can see, the third person singular is irregular.

More examples:
• She has never seen my brother.
• Neither Mike nor Tom has ever driven a truck.

2.1.2 The Past Participle

The past participle of a verb is a verb form that appears with the perfect tense. The past
participle can be either regular or irregular.

• The regular verbs are formed by • The formation of the irregular

adding -ed to the verb: verbs does not follow one rule.
Verb Past Participle Therefore, they should be
talk talked memorized.
Verb Past Participle
explain explained
be been
use used
deliver delivered become become
include included see seen
go gone
achieve achieved
eat eaten

Declarative Sentences

Subject + Auxiliary verb + Past participle

e.g. I/a dog etc. has/have e.g. slept/taken/gone etc.

Questions

Auxiliary verb + Subject + Past participle

has/have e.g. I/a dog etc. e.g. slept/taken/gone etc.

Examples
Have you ever seen this program?
Where has she lived for the past 21 years?
Have you found the telephone number?
Have you ever been to France?
Has anyone taken my bag?

Negative Sentences

Subject + Auxiliary verb + not + Past participle

e.g. I/a dog etc. has not/have not e.g. slept/taken/gone etc.

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 Examples
He hasn't taken any drug for two years
I haven't met my perfect partner yet
They haven't contacted you, have they?

2.2 Uses
The Present Perfect is used to express actions that happened at an indefinite time or that
began in the past and continue in the present. This tense is also used when an activity
influences the present moment.
1. Actions which happened at an indefinite (unknown) time before now
2. Actions in the past which influence the present moment
3. Actions which began in the past and continue in the present

2.2.1 Indefinite time before now

Use the Present Perfect to talk about actions that happened at some point in the past. It does
not matter when exactly they happened.

Examples: Examples:
• I have already had a breakfast. • I have seen it yesterday. (wrong)
• He has been to England. • We have gone to Paris last year
(wrong)

You should not use this tense with time expressions like yesterday, a week ago, last year

2.2.2 Effect on the present moment 2.2.3 Continuation in the present

We also use this tense when an activity
influences the present moment.
Examples:
• He has finished his work. (so he
can now rest)
• I have already eaten the dinner.
(so I'm not hungry)
• He has had a car accident. (that's
why he is in the hospital)
We often use the Present Perfect when we
want to emphasize that an event continues
in the present.
Examples:
• Mary has worked as a teacher for
over 25 years.
• Patrick has achieved a lot in his
life.

2.2.4 For and Since Example:

“Since” and “for” are very common time
expressions used with the Present Perfect.
We use “for” with a period of time.
• I have lived here for 20 years.
When talking about a starting point, we use
“since”, for example:
• I have lived here since 1960.

Time expressions with the Present Perfect:

• already • never • ever
• yet • recently • just
• before • at last • lately

Examples
• Have you ever been to Great Britain?

3. Past Tense
We use the Past Simple to talk about actions that happened at a specific time in the past. The
actions can be short or long. There can be a few actions happening one after another.

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Examples:
• I was sleepy.
• He didn't learn any Italian when he was in Italy two year ago.
• I went to the cinema, bought popcorn and watched a movie.

3.1 Use
The Past Tense is used for :
1. Events in the past that are now finished
2. Situation in the past
3. A series of actions in the past

3.1.1: Past actions that are now finished

The first use of the Past Simple to express actions that happened at a specific time in the past.
Examples:
• John cut his finger last week. • He ate the dinner 1 hour ago.
• I went to college 3 years ago. • I slept well last night.

3.1.2 Situation in the past 3.1.3: A series of actions in the past

Another use of this tense is talking about
situations in the past.
Examples:
• I lived in New York for 10 years (I
don't live there anymore).
The Past Simple can also be used with a few
actions in the past happening one after
another.
Examples:
• He entered a room, lit a cigarette
and smiled at the guests.

To form a declarative sentence, you need is the subject of the sentence (e.g. I, you, he, a
dog) and the past form of your verb (e.g. was, talked, swam).
Questions and negative sentences require an auxiliary verb.

Declarative Sentences
Subject + Verb + ED or an irregular verb form
e.g. I/a dog etc. e.g. worked/went/made
I saw two colorful fishes in the lake yesterday
Examples
He entered the room, lit a cigarette and smiled at the guests.
Mary tried the soup but it was too hot to eat.
I lived in New York for 10 years (I don't live there anymore).
They saw us playing football.
He married a woman who lived in the same village.
I ate the cake yesterday.
I have eaten the cake yesterday.

Time Expressions
Common time expressions (time adverbials) in the Past Simple are:
• yesterday
• the other day
• just now
• the day before yesterday

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 Questions
Auxiliary verb Subject Verb in the present form
+ +
did e.g. I/a dog etc. e.g. work/go/make
Examples
How long did he work there?
Did the telephone ring?
Did you see that?

Negative Sentences
Subject Auxiliary verb + not Verb in the present form
+ +
e.g. I/a dog etc. didn't e.g. work/go/make
Examples
He didn't learn any Italian when he was in
Italy two year ago.
I wasn't at my grandma's when you came.
He didn't get any good grades when he
attended school.

Simple Past Present Perfect Simple

irregular verbs: form of 'have' + 3rd column of
irregular verbs: see 2nd column of irregular verbs irregular verbs
Example: Example:
I spoke I / you / we / they have spoken
he / she / it has spoken
regular verbs: form of 'have' + infinitive + ed
regular verbs: infinitive + ed
Example:
Example:
I / you / we / they have worked
I worked
he / she / it has worked
Exceptions
Exceptions when adding 'ed':
• when the final letter is e, only add d
Example:
love - loved
• after a short, stressed vowel, the final consonant is doubled
Example:
admit - admitted
• final l is always doubled in British English (not in American
English)
Example:
travel - travelled
• after a consonant, final y becomes i (but: not after a vowel)
Example:
worry - worried
but: play - played

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Simple Past Present Perfect Simple
certain time in the past just / already / not yet
Example: Example:
I phoned Mary 2 minutes ago. I have just phoned Mary.

Certain event in the past or how often so far?

Do you want to express when a certain action took place or whether / how often an action
has happened till now?

Simple Past Present Perfect Simple

whether / how often till now
certain event in the past Example:
Example: Have you ever been to
He went to Canada last summer. Canada? / I have been to
Canada twice.
Emphasis on action or result?
Do you just want to express what happened in the past? Or do you want to emphasize the
result (a past action's consequence in the present)?

Simple Past Present Perfect Simple

Emphasis on result
Emphasis on action
Example:
Example:
I have bought a new bike. (With this
I bought a new bike. (just telling what I
sentence I actually want to express
did in the past.)
that I have a new bike now.)

Signal Words
Simple Past Present Perfect Simple
• just
• already
• yesterday
• up to now
• ... ago
• until now / till now
• in 1990
• ever
• the other day
• (not) yet
• last ...
• so far
• lately / recently

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