Answer Key Exercises

PODCAST 1

Describing a Person

First, listen to the Podcast once or twice to fully apprehend what is being said.

Then answer the following questions, going over the podcast as many times as

necessary, to enable you to pick out the required information:

1. The audio text consists of factual description and personal opinions. Give

two examples of each.

factual description:

She’s in her late 50’s. She has never married.

personal opinions:

She’s quite young in spirit. She has a kind face.

2. Describe:

Her face

She has a fair complexion and brown eyes.

Her body

Doesn’t say.

Her character

She’s very active and you can go to her when you have a problem.

Her likes

She likes reading and gardening.

Her dislikes

She dislikes people who don’t agree with her.

Her habits

One habit she has is going for long walks over the hills.

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3. List FOUR adjectives used in the podcast, and say if they describe the

person’s character or appearance:

1 fair – appearance (fair complexion)

2 kind – character or appearance (the text describes her face – kind face)

3 brown – appearance (brown hair)

4 dark – appearance (dark brown eyes)

4. Sometimes an adjective is qualified. For example, the text says ‘she isn’t

very tolerant’. Find the other examples where adjectives are qualified.

1. Generous – “she’s extremely generous”

2. Quite – “quite young”

3. Little – “a little wrinkled”

4. Very – “very active person”

5. ‘She isn’t very tolerant’. This is a nice way of saying ‘she is intolerant’.

Sometimes we avoid saying a negative quality by saying ‘not very’ + the

opposite adjective. How could you tactfully describe someone who is

cruel/mean//rude/stupid/boring?

1. cruel

He’s not very kind.

2. mean

He’s not a very nice person.

3. rude

She’s a little impolite.

4. stupid

She’s not very clever.

5. boring

He can be slightly uninteresting sometimes.

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THAT’S ALL!

THANK YOU.

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