Page 89 - English Vocabualry In Use 3 (Upper Intermediate)
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41 Describing objects
A Some pairs of opposite adjectives
Cottonisanaturalmaterialandnylonisartificial.
Redandyellowarevividcolourswhilegreyisasombrecolour.
Youcanseethroughatransparentmaterialbutyoucan’tsee aconventional abizarrechair
throughanopaquematerial. chair
Amachinethathasnoproblemsatallisperfectwhileonethatdoesn’tworkproperlyisfaulty.
Somethingthatishardanddoesn’tmoveorbendeasilyisstiffwhilesomethingthatbendseasilyis
flexible.
Amaterialthatcanbeeasilyspoiltby,forexample,washing,
canbecalleddelicatewhilesomethingthatishardtospoil
canbecalledtough.
Amateriallikeglassthatcanbeeasilybrokencanbecalled
fragilewhilesomethingthatdoesnotbreakeasilycanbe aplainframe adecorativeframe
calledstrongorsturdy.
Ipreferstrongcoffeetoweakcoffee-Ican’tstandcoffeethathastoomuchwaterormilkinit.Ilike
tobeabletoreallytastemycoffee!
ThepaintingisnotagenuinePicasso-it’safake.
B Adjectives and nouns
adjective noun example meaning
decent decency I’d like to get a table that’s a decent size so we good
can have ten people to a meal.
entire entirety Between them they ate the entire cake! whole
characteristic character, Big windows are characteristic of houses built in typical
characteristic the early 1900s.
precise precision We need to take precise measurements before exact
we decide which fridge to get.
severe severity It’s a severe building - all concrete and straight very serious
lines.
solid solidity The table is made of solid oak. hard all through
trivial trivia, triviality He doesn’t write serious novels, just trivial insignificant
romances.
Theonlyverbsthatcanbeformedfromadjectivesintheabovetablearecharacterise,solidifyand
trivialise.
C Phrases typical of speech
Didyouseethatgreatbigcatrunacrossthegrass?[verybig]
Thisphotoisn’thalfasinterestingasthatone.[ismuchless]
Jessie’scarisnowherenearaspowerfulasmine.[muchless]
Tamaramakesanunusuallystrongcupofcoffee.
It’sareasonablygoodpieceofsculpture.[fairlygood]
It’saprettythickbook.[fairlythick]
88 English Vocabulary in Use Upper-intermediate
