Describing people: positive and negative qualities Character and personality Chinese astrology organises years into cycles of 12, and asserts that the year you are born in affects your character. Each year is named after an animal. ™ 1972, 1984, | imaginative, charming, generous, quick B® | 1926, 2008 | tempered, opportunistic! 2 1973, 1985, | conservative, methodical’, conscientious, Sap 1997, 2009 | chauvinistie’, a born leader 1974, 1986, | sensitive, emotional, tends to get carried 1998, 2010 | away’, stubborn, rebellious, courageous mr 1975, 1987, | affectionate, obliging’, sentimental APR [ose 2011" | Superticiat ote insecure! roe 1976, 1988, | fun-loving, popular, a perfectioni ti, BP™ | 2000, 2012' | sited, may sometimes be tactess! sae 1977, 1989, po naeieniel cute wm 2001, 2013 charming, intuitive'®, stingy HORSE 1978, 1990, zent™’, independent, placid”, Pa Soeisnte | ores ete eee oencunchg a 1979, 1951, | elegant, artistic, always ready to complain, 2003,2015. | over-anxious wou | 1980, 1992, | witty, magnetic personality", good Be —_| 2004,2016° | company, can be distrustful voongs | 1981,1993, | industrious, shrewd”, supportive, ab 2005,2017 | decisive, extravagant’ oe 1982, 1994, | down-to-earth**, altruistic’*, morose” “Sex| 2006; 2015' | sharp-tongued”* spe | 19852985 | neta totrant, ma | 2007, 2019 | materialistic Positive and negative associ + using situations for own benefit 2 systematic, careful 300 patriotic “become too excited and lose control * ready to help ® not caring about serious things not confident, uncertain about your own abilities ® someone who is not satisfied if things are not 100% perfect 9 inclined to say things that upset or offend people ® understanding instinctively * hard-working 2 calm, does not easily become excited or angry ® personality that attracts people to you * not trusting, suspicious of others 25 having good judgement gives help or encouragement spends too much money or uses too much of something 2 practical and sensible ® thinking of others rather than yourself ® gloomy 2 Inclined to speak in a severe and critical way ® without enough experience of life, trusting too easily Charming, generous is that how you think of yourself? Selfish, cunning - that can't be me! Some words in the chart above have positive associations, others negative ones. Here are some words from the chart, together with other words that share some aspects of their meaning. The table shows which have positive and which have negative associations. generous, unstinting fd shrewd, astute extravagant, immoderate cunning, sly resolute, dogged stubborn, obstinate sober, serious ‘morose, sullen thrifty, frugal stingy, parsimonious witty, pithy’ brusque, terse diligent, industrious work-obsessed, (a) workaholic (noun) tolerant, open-minded unprincipled, unscrupulous idealistic, principled dogmatic, inflexible chatty, talkative verbose, garrulous h Vocobulory8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Exercises Read the comments and then answer the questions. wish Tatyana would calm Tom thinks his country is better down and not get so over- _a. than any other country and t * excited about things. doesn’t listen to reason. Alice can always be relied upon to make the right Sophie is always so calm. = decision. = ' Harry is such a practical Andrey has a tendency to say and sensible person. things that upset people. 1 Whois placid? 3 Who tends to get carried away? 5 Whois shrewd? 2 Who is down-to-earth? 4 Whois often tactless? 6 Who is chauvinistic? Which colleagues does the speaker have a positive opinion of and which a negative one? ‘Ellie, my boss is very astute and she can be very witty, but | find her assistant, David, abit sullen and obstinate. Julia, who sit next to, isa bit stingy and extremely work-obsessed, | doa lot of work with Marco, who's very obliging, supportive and tolerant: Fill the gaps with words from the opposite page. You are given the first letter(s) and clues to the meaning in brackets. 1 He's rather o. He always tries to use situations to his own advantage. (devious) 2 Shehasan i approach to life rather than a rational one. (instinctive) 3. My father was a somewhat quick-tempered and m. sort of person. (gloomy) 4 He was a very altruistic person, almost to the point of being n.. vmx (100 trusting) 5 Aisha has am, personality. Everyone is drawn to her. (attractive) 6 Robis a very conscientious and m. worker, (careful, systematic) 7 Ifind Eva a bit b... . and rude. (speaks in a quick and rude way) 8 She's fun-loving but she can be a Dit S.A times. (doesn't care about serious things) 9 U think Max iS fan (doesn’t have much confidence, not really sure of himself) 10 I'm always happy to go out for a meal with Kerstin. She's such g. c (pleasant and entertaining to spend time with) 11 She was very<.. smu if Speaking out against corruption. (brave, unafraid to speak or act) 12. Owen's ap. He's never happy if he doesn’t get an A-grade in every test. Find adjectives on the opposite page related to these abstract nouns. 1 altruism 4 placidity 7 distrust 10 unscrupulousness 2 parsimony 5 industriousness 8 terseness 3 diligence 6 rebellion 9 naivety The adjectives you found in the exercise above are more common in formal contexts. Give a synonym for each word that would be more likely to be used in informal situations (e.g. a friendly, informal conversation). Use a dictionary if necessary. 2327 People - character and behaviour 58 Positive characteristics and behaviour In this conversation, Lucy uses an idiom to repeat and sum up what Beth says. Lucy: I'm trying to organise a quiz team. Who do you think I should ask? Beth: Why not ask Nathan? He knows a lot about all sorts of different things. Lucy: You're right. He's a mine of information. Beth: He can do all sorts of different things too. He's good at sport, and he's set up his own software business, which is doing very well, | believe. Lucy: That's right. He's a man of many parts’ Beth: Why don't you ask Matt as well? He's young, but he's so clever and really successful Lucy: Yes, he's a whizz kid, if ever there was one, Good ideal Beth: His sister Georgie is nice too, isn't she? Full of energy and enthusiasm, Lucy: That's right. She's got plenty of get-up and go. Beth: She'd be great in a quiz too. She's a trained chef; she's a qualified singing teacher, so she knows about music; and she's studying film at college. Lucy: Yes, she has plenty of strings to her bow. Thanks, Beth. Il ask them all! You can also say ‘woman of many parts. Negative characteristics and behaviour a glutton for | She's certainly a glutton for punishment. She's | someone who likes working hard or doing punishment. started doing a second degree, even though she's got2 fulltime job and two small children. things other people would find unpleasant (humorous) highly strung She's so highly strung that even a loud noise can make her jump. very nervous and easily upset rat yesterday, when details of his affair with co-star Kelly Black emerged. act /play the | He'd bea nicer person ifhe didn’t play the | behave in a silly way, often to make people fool fool so much. laugh look out for | Trust Fred to take the last piece of cake. puts himself firs, as he thinks he is the most number one | He always looks out for number one. important person (informal) eatsbfor | The lawyersare going to-eat the accused | speak angrily oritically to easly contol or | breakfast | man for breakfast. defeat someone aloverat | Movie star Jake Kingwas exposed as alove | a man having secret sexual relationship with someone not his wife or girlfriend (informal, mainly used in popular journalism) a wet blanket aloose cannon Stop complaining about the weather. It’s not that cold. Enjoy the picnic and stop being such a wet blanket. (Our sales manager is a loose cannon. You never know what he'll say or do next. someone who says or does something that stops others from enjoying themselves (informal) someone who cannot be trusted because | they act in an unpredictable way English idioms in Use Advanced27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 Exercises Complete each idiom from A opposite. 1 Let's hire Dan. He has a lot of get and go, and will really inspire the team. 2. He's a person with many skills and talents, a true man of many A 3. The restaurant is popular with banking whizz ,all talking loudly about the financial deals they're doing. 4. Schools often encourage their students to collect as many... to their bow as possible. 5 Ask Auntie Lily to help with your geography project - she's a of information about different places. Correct the mistakes in these idioms. 1 Concentrate on your homework and stop playing a fool! 2 Ihope Joe doesn't come to the party ~ he’s such a cold blanket. 3 I suppose that everyone ultimately has to look out for figure one. 4 Kate volunteers for all the jobs that no one else will do - she’s a real glutton for work. 5 | always said she was a loose gun, so I'm not surprised she’s causing trouble. 6 The newspapers are claiming that the prince is a love snake. 7 Be extra kind and calm with Jarek - he’s very tightly strung. 8 Everyone admires the young entrepreneur for his get-up and buy. ‘Which idioms do these pictures make you think of? ‘ 3 \\ 2 Replace the underlined part of each sentence with an idiom. 1 I'm really scared about meeting them. I'm sure they'll be angry and criticise me. 2 I don’t want to be miserable and spoil your fun, but please can you turn the music down? It's too loud. 3. Some people say that to succeed in business, you need to put your own interests first. 4 There always seems to be a child in every class who acts in a silly way to make the other pupils laugh. 5 Martina would be easier to live with if she weren't so nervous and easily upset. 6 Some see him as an unpredictable and untrustworthy person, but this is unfair. 59