19 Observing others: character traits eae i « le behaviour: some useful adjectives word ‘meaning example impetuous | acts on a sudden idea without thinking He's so impetuous: I wish he would first; generally negative consider things first. impulsive similar to impetuous, but can be used in| His impulsive generosity led him to a more positive way give away most of his money. effusive gives exaggerated expression of pleasure, | She always gives you such an effusive praise or gratitude welcome. excitable ‘easily excited by things He's a very excitable child: he needs to calm down. pushy always selfishly promoting one’s own She's so pushy, ies typical of her to position or interests (informal) demand an interview for the new job. garrulous talks too much, especially about Freddie's so garrulous; it's impossible unimportant things to get any work done. taciturn reserved or says very little (generally | thought he was rather taciturn negative) when I first met him. He hardly spoke. Sociability Jcan’s such an introvert [inward-looking and quiet], and her brother Mark is such an extrovert [outward-looking and sociable]. Strange, isn’t it? Mr Rogers is such a diffident man. [lacks confidence; has a low opinion of himself] English people are traditionally thought of as rather reserved. [not immediately sociable] Barbara tends to be rather aloof. I don’t know if she’s just shy. [unfriendly and not sociable My aunt Annie can be very haughty [unfriendly and thinks herself better than others] and disdainful [does not believe others deserve respect] at times, but she’s lovely really. I've always found Professor Mactoft very unapproachable [not easy to be sociable with or start a conversation with}, but his colleague Dr O'Daly is very approachable. Nancy is so conceited [thinks herself wonderful] and self-important [has an exaggerated sense of her importance], but Flora is such a modest person. [prefers not to exaggerate her own qualities} My boss is such a flirt, though I would never call her thar to her face. Nobody in the office is safe. [makes constant romantic approaches] Character traits Joss is a somewhat naive person; he thinks love can solve all the world’s problems. [/nar'izv/ willing to believe simple things perhaps because of inexperience] Telephone salespeople often take advantage of gullible people. [easily deceived] My father was a very conscientious man; he never took time off work unless he was really sick. [/konJi'enfas/ always took his work very seriously] You are so obstinate [unwilling to change, despite persuasion] and pig-headed! [similar to obstinate but stronger, more disapproving] Why don’t you listen when people give you good advice? He's quite an unscrupulous character; I should be very careful if I were you. [lacking in moral principles, prepared to do very bad things} 56 English Vocabulary in Use (Advanced)19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 Exercises Answer these questions. What is the opposite of approachable? What word is a stronger way of saying obstinate? If someone is diffident, do they have lots of or little self-confidence? How could you describe a greeting that showed exaggerated pleasure? Is scrupulous the opposite of unscrupulous? (Use a dictionary if necessary.) Which tends to be more negative, impetuous or impulsive? AnkoOne Complete the following tables by writing the noun forms of the adjectives. Use a dictionary if necessary. adjective noun adjective noun excitable excidability gullible disdainful reserved impetuous garrulous 7 ‘obstinate — conceited modest pig-headed Fill the gaps with adjectives from the opposite page. The first letter of each word is given. remember my grandmother so well. Her quite o. (6) and a -~ (1) generosity meant she | p. svsssnnen: (7), and could not be ‘was always giving money to beggars and other poor | persuaded to do something she didn’t want to. She } { people. She was very a (2), | was proud but never ¢ @)or | never a. sw (3), and would + on (9), talkative but never | ‘always chat to strangers; in fact she was quite an | g (10), selt-confident but | e (4) and would sing and | never p (71), always wishing | dance at partes. But when it came to work she | success for everyone else before herself. She was was very ¢ ()andnever | always d (12) of | missed a day in forty years, She was a very u -~. (13) people, since she was | determined person, indeed she could be a person of great moral principles. } These sentences contain words from the opposite page, but in a different form. Rewrite the sentences using words from the opposite page. For example, use a noun instead of an adjective. She's a flirtatious sort of person, and doesn’t care who knows it. He's always had a tendency to be introverted. Larry shows a lot of reserve, while his sister is known more for her approachab I'm a person who buys on impulse rather than thinking about what I really need. He was a man of great garrulousness, and taciturnity is a word I would never associate with him. wnune See how many words and expressions describing behaviour and character traits you can find in horoscopes in newspapers and magazines. English Vocabulary in Use (Advanced) 57