English Vocabulary Exercises for B2 – Truth and lies

1. Complete the text with the correct form of the verbs below.

disguise      exaggerate      lie      manipulate      pass      photoshop

Taste the goodness!

You can’t say that adverts 1) _________ about products to consumers, but I think it’s true to say they 2) _________ what products can do. Advertisers try to 3) _________ our emotions with images of attractive people and places. Furthermore, they have been known to 4) _________ images so that products look better than they really are. Often, food and drinks manufacturers 5) _________ off products which have too much sugar as ‘energy food’ and 6) _________ the fact that some products contain ingredients that are not good for us.

2. Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs.

cheat      fabricate      fib      fool      mislead      swear

1) Sam was told to leave the exam because he was using his mobile phone and ________

2) The children were ____________ when they said that the dog ate the cake.

3) You have to ____________ to tell the truth in a court of law.

4) That tattoo isn’t real! She’s just trying to ____________ us.

5) The thief claims that the police ____________ the evidence against him.

6) Jack ____________ his parents about what he had really been doing on Friday evening.

3. Listen to the dialogues and choose the correct answers (a-c).

Dialogue 1

1) What is Jessica doing at the beginning of the dialogue?

a Making an excuse

b Telling the truth

c Cheating

2) What does Tom want Jessica to do?

a Deceive somebody

b Lie about something to somebody

c Own up to something

3) What does Jessica find difficult to do?

a Tell a lie

b Tell the truth

c Fool Tom

Dialogue 2

4) What is Grace doing?

a Photoshopping a picture

b Disguising her friend

c Telling the truth

5) What does Grace say she hasn’t done?

a Improved the story

b Made the story more amusing

c Fabricated a story

6) What does Leo think a newspaper should do?

a Portray things as more interesting than they are

b Tell the truth

c Reveal secrets

4. Complete the sentences with the correct verbs.

1) A lot of people won’t tell you anything face to face, but the r______ all their secrets on the internet.

2) Nicola l______ to me about the date of her party!

3) He always m______ excuses for his mistakes and never accepts responsibility for anything!

4) Alex o______ up to breaking the window and promised to pay for a new one.

5) The machine d______ his voice so you didn’t know who was speaking.

5. Choose the correct words to complete the sentences.

1) The newspapers gave a very biased / manipulative report and criticised the government.

2) It’s so honest / hypocritical to tell people to help when you don’t do anything yourself!

3) Andy is really manipulative / direct and tries to control everything so that it always favours him.

4) I like Sara’s direct / ethical manner, even if she sometimes criticises what I have done.

5) There are new medical treatments such as gene therapy which raise ethical / dishonest issues.

6) I wanted to give Frank an open / honest answer, but I couldn’t tell him his suit looked awful, could I?

6. Match the adjectives below with the descriptions.

devious      fake      hypocritical      straight      trustworthy      truthful

1) Someone who is honest and says what they think. ______

2) Someone who tricks others in order to get what they want. ______

3) Something which is not genuine. ______

4) Someone who can be relied upon to do the right thing and to be honest. ______

5) Someone who says only what is true. ______

6) Someone who says one thing, but does another. ______

Extra exercises

1. Complete the sentences with the verbs below.

cheat      disguise      exaggerate      fool

make      photoshop      swear      tell

1) Why don’t you just ____________ an excuse if you don’t want to go to the party?

2) Don’t ____________ ! You can’t have walked 100 km!

3) I ____________ that I didn’t take your watch. It wasn’t me!

4) If you ____________, your test paper won’t be accepted.

5) Mary’s story didn’t ____________ me. I knew she was lying.

6) That picture can’t be real. Did you ____________ it?

7) Tom couldn’t ____________ the fact that he’d been crying.

8) _______ me the truth! Did you, or did you not, delete that fire from computer?

2. Complete the sentences with the adjective form of the nouns below.

bias      ethic      hypocrite      manipulation      truth      trust

1) If you aren’t ____________ with me about your part in the incident, I won’t be able to trust you again.

2) That shop is looking for a ____________ person to look after their accounts.

3) You’re ____________ about the referee’s decision because you want your team to win.

4) Is it ____________ to buy expensive electronic devices when the people that make them are paid so little?

5) Lola’s rather ________ I don’t like the way she tries to control me and other friends.

6) It would be ____________ of me to accept Ruby’s invitation when I don’t actually like her.