Page 53 - English Vocabulary in Use : Elementary

23 Common adjectives: people

In this unit, ** = normal, **** = stronger

Saying positive (+)/good things about people
Nice is the most common word used for people who we like / who are good.
Mary’s very nice.
Richard’s a nice man.
If we want to make nice stronger, we can use wonderful.
nice (**) ————-» _ wonderful (****)
Ron is a wonderful teacher. All the students love him.
But we don’t say ‘Mary is very wonderful’, we just say ‘Mary is wonderful’.

If someone is good to other people, we use kind.
She’s very kind; she helps me with the children.

Other ‘good’ things about people
My teacher is a lovely man. (= very kind /I like him very much)
My friend Neil is very easy-going. (= relaxed, easy to be with)
Maureen’s a happy person. (# an unhappy person)
All my friends are more intelligent than me. (= clever, good at school subjects, etc.)

Saying negative (-)/bad things about people
Marcia is not very nice.

not very nice (**) ———————> horrible (****)
Margaret is a horrible woman; nobody likes her.
My uncle is a difficult person. He is never happy.
That waiter is stupid. I asked for coffee and he has given me tea! (stupid **** is a very
strong word)
I don’t like selfish people. (= people who think only of themselves)

Little children
We often say that little children are good or well-behaved. If they are not, we say they are
naughty.
Tim is very good / well-behaved, but his little sister is very naughty.

Prepositions
Jean was nice/kind/wonderful to me when I was in hospital.
You were horrible to me yesterday!
It was nice/kind of you to remember my birthday.

50 English Vocabulary in Use (elementary)