Personality: the Patterns of Thinking, Feeling, Acting, and Behaving

Personality means the qualities and ways a person acts that make them different from others. This includes things like their main characteristics, what they like, what motivates them, what’s important to them, how they see themselves, their skills, and how they feel.

You will often be asked to describe a person in the exam. This could be your family member, a friend, a teacher, a historical figure, or a celebrity. The question will require you to talk about the person’s personality, his/her traits of character. It’s essential to know some words that are used to describe people.

Exam in Mind Level A2/B1/B2

Personality Wordlist

adorable – чарівний, чудовий
adventurous – який любить пригоди
aggressive – агресивний
ambitious – амбітний, ініціативний
angry – злий
arrogant – пихатий
attentive – уважний
brave – хоробрий
boring – нудний
bossy – владний
brave – хоробрий
calm – спокійний
careful – обережний
careless – безтурботний; необережний
caring – дбайливий; люблячий
cautious – обережний
charismatic – харизматичний
charming – чарівний
cheerful – веселий, життєрадісний
clever – розумний, кмітливий
clumsy – незграбний
compassionate – жалісливий
competitive – конкурентоспроможний
conceited – пихатий
condident – впевнений
cooperative – співпрацюючий
courageous – сміливий
cowardly – боягузливий
creative – творчий
cruel – жорстокий
curious – допитливий
demanding – вимогливий
dependent – залежний
determined – рішучий
devoted – вірний
diligent – старанний
dishonest – нечесний
disloyal – нелояльний
disorganized – неорганізований
dull – безтолковий
easy-going – з легким характером
energetic – енергійний
envious – заздрісний
fair – справедливий
flexible – гнучкий
forgetful – забудькуватий
friendly – дружній
funny – смішний
fussy – метушливий
generous – щедрий
gentle – лагідний
greedy – жадібний
grumpy – сварливий, дратівливий
hard-working – працьовитий
helpful – готовий допомогти
honest – чесний
humble – скромний
humorous – жартівливий
imaginative – наділений багатою уявою
immature – незрілий
impatient – нетерплячий
impolite – неввічливий
impulsive – імпульсивний
independent – незалежний
indecisive – нерішучий
industrious – працьовитий
insensitive – нечутливий
inventive – винахідливий
irresponsible – безвідповідальний
jealous – ревнивий; заздрісний
joyful – радісний
kind – добрий
lazy – ледачий
lively – жвавий
lonely – самотній
loyal – лояльний; вірний
mature – зрілий; змужнілий
mean – підлий; скупий
messy – неохайний
mischievous – неслухняний
miserable – нещасний
modest – скромний
moody – з поганим характером; примхливий
naughty – неслухняний
neat -акуратний
nervous – нервовий
noisy – шумний
obedient – слухняний
optimistic – оптимістичний
organized – організований
outgoing – товариський
patient – терплячий
patriotic – патріотичний
persistent – наполегливий
pessimistic – песимістичний
picky – вибагливий
pleasant – приємний
polite – ввічливий
protective -той, що захистить
proud – гордий
punctual – пунктуальний
quiet – спокійний
quarrelsome – сварливий
reckless – безрозсудний
rebellious – бунтарський
relaxed – розслаблений; спокійний
reliable – надійний
reserved – стриманий
responsible – відповідальний
rude – грубий
scornful – зневажливий
self-confident – впевнений у собі
selfish – егоїстичний
sensible – розсудливий
sensitive – чутливий
shy – сором’язливий
sincere – щирий
sociable – комунікабельний
strict – строгий
stubborn – впертий
sympathetic – співчутливий
talkative – балакучий
tidy – охайний
tolerant – толерантний
trustworthy – надійний
understanding – чуйний
unfriendly – непривітний
unselfish – безкорисливий
vain – марнославний
warm-hearted – сердечний; співчутливий
wicked – злий
wise – мудрий
witty – дотепний

Speaking about yourself

Activity 1.

Step 1. Finish the following sentences.
Step 2. Arrange the sentences you have made into a story about yourself.

● When I have some free time I like …
● In school I have always been good at …
● It has always been very difficult for me to…
● I would describe myself as a … and … person.
● I enjoy going to parties where …
● When I go out with friends we usually …
● I am sometimes envious of people who …
● I like (don’t like) to have pets in my house because …
● When I feel out of sorts (in a bad mood) I …
● When I want to enjoy myself I usually …
● I am not very interested in …
● I find it very easy to …
● I learn English because …
● I like people who …
● I try to avoid people who …
● I like to read books about …
● I am very proud of …
● One day I hope to …
● As a child I used to be afraid of …
● I don’t like films which …
● I think I look like …

Activity 2. Time yourself while answering the following questions. Each answer should be not less than 1 minute.

Do you think you are an interesting personality? Yes/No. Why do you think so?
What makes people interesting to others?
Could people be judged by the hobbies and tastes they have?
Do you share your parents’ hobbies, interests, and tastes? Yes/No. Why?
Do you and your parents understand and respect each other’s tastes in music, fashion, films, literature, etc.?
If you could speak with any person from the past, who would you choose and what would you ask him/her about?
Do you think every person should have a hobby? Yes/No. Why do you think so?
What do you think about people collecting things? Is it a useful hobby in your opinion?

A Personality: Speaking/Writing Situations

How would your best friend describe you? Do you like it? Do you agree or not with his / her description and why? Do you have a nickname, if yes comment on it? Do you give (like) nicknames? Why (not)? If you were asked to associate yourself with a tree, fruit, animal, flower, colour, etc. what would it be and why?
Have you got a good memory? How would your life be different if you had an amazingly good / bad memory? What things would be difficult if you lost your memory? Is it possible to improve your memory? How?
Discuss the three main qualities that you feel are needed to achieve success in our society. Explain why. Do you have all these qualities, if not what are you going to do to develop them?
How important are clothes to you and why? What influences your choice? What do people say about themselves through their choice of clothes? Is there too much pressure on young people to wear name brands?
Speak about all the people who have influenced your development as a person. What did they contribute to your personality? Was their influence always positive? How old were you when their influence was felt?
Talk about the ways you choose your friends. What character traits do you consider as essential ones? What similarities and differences between you and your friend do you find?
What are the characteristics that contribute to the first impression people make? Which are the most important when you meet: a new colleague, a neighbour, a teacher, a girlfriend/ boyfriend. Give your reasons.
Are you someone who gets stressed easily? What things make you stressed and why? How do you feel when you are stressed? Who or what do you rely on most in times of need and why? What are the most effective ways to relax (for you)?
Is it always a good thing to take risks? What type of person do you think you need to be to take risks? Why do you think some people might not approve of risk-takers? Do you think it is true that men take more risks than women?

All People Are Different

No one in the world looks exactly alike. People can be different in appearance, character, experience, language, culture dreams, tastes…

People behave differently and act differently. People are brought up differently: some can be kind, well-mannered, others are selfish, unhelpful and very ill-mannered. Some are very happy and caring, others are sad and strict.

Different people find different things funny. Some people are good at practical things, others sit for hours with their noses in books, but everyone has a special talent for some activity. Some people are dull and take things seriously. Others are clever and smart.

People have got different tastes. They wear different clothes. For example, some people like dresses and others like jeans. Besides, they also have got different hobbies. They like different kinds of music and books, films and sport.

And we all have different views and opinions.

Word List

exactly – точно
alike – однаковий
behave – поводитися
are brought up – виховуються
well-mannered – вихований
ill-mannered – невихований
take things seriously – сприймайте речі серйозно
besides – крім того
views – погляди
opinions – думки