English Vocabulary Exercises for B2 – What are they like?

1. Choose the correct answers to complete the horoscopes.

Find out what is going to happen in your life with this week’s horoscope!

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1) industrious   2) sympathetic   3) cautious   4) insecure

5) outgoing   6) creative

2. Put the adjectives below in the correct columns.

bad-tempered      bossy      considerate      creative      cruel

outgoing      quick-witted      selfless      self-satisfied

spontaneous      stingy      untrustworthy

Positive

Negative

Show answers

Positive considerate, creative, outgoing, quick-witted, selfless, spontaneous

Negative bad-tempered, bossy, cruel, stingy, self-satisfied, untrustworthy

3. Listen to four descriptions. Match the adjectives below with descriptions 1-4. There are two extra adjectives.

cruel      judgemental      spontaneous      stingy      stubborn      vain

Speaker 1 _________

Speaker 2 _________

Speaker 3 _________

Speaker 4 _________

Show answers

Speaker 1  judgemental

Speaker 2 vain

Speaker 3 spontaneous

Speaker 4  stubborn

Transcript

See exercise 4.

4. Listen again and choose the correct answers (a-c).

1) The speaker thinks that Kevin is _________


a untrustworthy  b bossy              c considerate

2) Olivia’s behaviour suggests she could be _________


a cruel  b cautious         c insecure

3) The speaker suggests that his grandmother is _________


a judgemental  b sympathetic   c shrewd

4) When people disagree with Max, he becomes _________


a bad-tempered  b cautious         c cruel

Show answers

1) a   2) c   3) b   4) a

Transcript

1)

Kevin is very quick to think negative things about people. Even when he talks about his best friend, he always tells you about his faults. And if somebody hasn’t got any faults, he invents them, so you can’t always believe what he says.

2)

Olivia can’t go past a mirror without looking at herself in it. She always worries about her appearance. I was in town with her the other day and she spent the whole time looking at her own reflection in the shop windows!

3)

You never know what will happen when you visit grandmother. She’ll suddenly decide to go to the zoo or to try and make some dish we’ve seen on a cooking show. She’s fun! She’s also great when you’ve got a problem as she’ll always listen carefully and is really kind.

4)

I’ve never met a person like Max. Even when he knows he’s wrong, he seems incapable of admitting it. What’s worse, he gets angry with anyone who suggests he’s mistaken.

5. Replace the underlined words in the text with the adjectives below.

considerate      eccentric      passionate      pushy      quick-witted      shrewd

grandfather can seem 1 a bit unusual in an amusing way at times ________, but he says he just think differently. In fact, he’s very 2 good at understanding people and judging situations ________ and 3 able to reply quickly to ideas that he doesn’t agree with in a clever way ________ . Sometimes he can seem 4 unpleasant when he really wants something ________, but really, he just 5 showing his strong feelings about things that he likes ________ . However, when people get to know him, they all agree that he is a 6 kind and helpful ________ man.

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1) eccentric   2) shrewd   3) quick-witted   4) pushy

5) passionate   6) considerate

6. Complete the sentences with the words below.

hard      open      quick      self      thick      well

1) The students are always ________-behaved in their English class.

2) Amber isn’t very ________-minded and she doesn’t like trying new things.

3) Sean is usually quite ________-working, but he didn’t study a lot for these exams.

4) He’s ________-witted and he gave fast answers to the questions in the test.

5) You need to be ________-skinned to be a politician.

6) Max is ________-confident, but he knows talent is not enough to succeed.

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1) well   2 open   3) hard   4) quick   5) thick   6) self

7. Complete the sentences with compound adjectives.

1) We went to a restaurant with Andy last night and he was rude and unpleasant to everyone! He’s always been b______-m______.

2) You’d have to be very t______-s______ not to be upset by his insensitive remarks.

3) She devotes all her time to her training. She’s very ambitious and s______-m______ when it comes to achieving her goals.

4) We saw a romantic comedy at the theatre last weekend which was fun and quite l______-h______.

5) Lily was very s______-c______ before the exam because she’d studied a lot and knew she would do well.

6) I’ve met quite a few relaxed people in life, but I’ve never known anyone as e______-g______ as Mark.

Show answers

1) bad-mannered   2) thick-skinned   3 single-minded

4) light-hearted  5) self-confident   6) easy-going

Extra exercises

1. Choose the correct answers (a-c) to complete the sentences.

1) aunt’s rather _________ . She wears very weird clothes.


a cautious    b eccentric        c industrious

2) Thanks for waiting. It was really _________ of you.


a stingy         b passionate     c considerate

3) Mark’s quite a _________ businessman. He tends to make good decisions.


a critical       b selfless           c shrewd

4) Patricia’s so _________ ! She’s always looking at herself in the mirror.


a vain            b cruel  c affectionate

5) friends weren’t very _________ when budgie died. They just laughed!


a bossy         b sympathetic  c outgoing

6) You’re so _________ ! I wish you were a bit more flexible.


a stubborn  b spontaneous  c creative

Show answers

1) b   2) c   3) c   4) a  5) b   6) a

2. Complete the sentences with compound adjectives formed from the words below.

behave      go      mind      skin      temper      work

1) Nobody in family likes visiting grandfather. He’s really ________.

2) I’m quite ________,  so I don’t usually get upset if people are rude to me.

3) Those children are very ________. They do exactly what they’re told.

4) parents never judge people. They’re really ________.

5) She studies for four hours every night. She’s very ________.

6) Nothing seems to bother best friend. She’s very ________.

Show answers

1) bad-tempered   2) thick-skinned   3) well-behaved

4) open-minded   5) hard-working   6) easy-going

3. Complete the sentences with a suitable media word.

1) The paparazzi are always invading people’s ________.

2) The singer sued the newspaper for ________. after the article it published about her.

3) Press ________. are in charge of what can and cannot be reported in the news.

4) Investigative ________. has led to a number of political scandals being revealed recently.

5) Celebrities are always in the public ________.

6) Privacy ________. prevented the identity of the victim from being released.

Show answers

1) privacy   2) libel   3) regulators   4) journalism   5) eye   6) laws

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