Your list
Read out the adjectives you could not find. In Portuguese, or described — the word for someone who never stops working.
Describing it rather than naming it is a real skill. Practise it deliberately: you will do it for the rest of your life in a second language.
Five descriptions, five words. The game you just played, in reverse.
Words that travel together
English does not combine these freely. Some pairs are fixed, and the wrong pair sounds foreign even when both words are right.
Two versions of the same reference
Natural: She is a hard worker and a quick learner. She is very good with people, and she takes real pride in her work. She has a strong sense of responsibility and she is extremely reliable.
Word-for-word: She is a strong worker and a fast learner. She is very good with persons, and she takes real proud of her work. She has a big sense of responsibility and she is extremely trustful.
Every word in the second version exists in English. Answer from the comparison.
1. Why is strong worker wrong?
2. What is wrong with good with persons?
3. What do hard worker, quick learner and strong sense have in common?
4. Why does this matter more than grammar?
Collocations, and where the stress falls
Fixed pairs worth knowing
| English says | Not | Means |
|---|---|---|
| a hard worker | Works a lot, consistently | |
| a quick learner | Picks things up rapidly | |
| good with people | Handles people well | |
| a strong sense of… | Has a lot of it — humour, responsibility | |
| take pride in | Care about doing it well | |
| get on with | Have a good relationship with |
Stress on the long ones
Tap each and listen for the stressed syllable. These are Latinate — Portuguese has nearly all of them, and stresses several of them differently.
Why this is the one to get right. A Portuguese speaker saying re·spon·SA·ble or gen·er·OUS is using the correct word and will still not be understood first time.
English reduces every unstressed vowel to a weak uh. So GEN·er·ous is really GEN-uh-ruhs — three syllables, one of them loud and two of them almost swallowed. Stress is not decoration; it is what makes the word findable.
Match each adjective or verb to the noun English pairs it with.
Use them where they belong
One word per gap, all from Phase 03. Read the whole reference before you start.
I have worked with Ana for six years. She is a worker — she is in before me and still there when I leave. She is also a very learner: she took over the accounts in a fortnight. She is extremely good with , which matters in this office, and she gets with everybody, including the two people nobody else can work with. She has a strong of responsibility and she takes real in her work. She can be a bit of a , honestly — nothing leaves her desk until it is exactly right.
Six sentences. Every word exists; six of them are the wrong word. Rewrite each in full.
1. He is a strong worker.
2. She is very good with persons.
3. He has a big sense of humour.
4. She takes proud of her work.
5. I get well with my colleagues.
6. He is a very sensible person — he cries at films.
A reference for someone
Task card · Speaking
Somebody has asked you for a reference for a colleague or friend.
Ninety seconds. At least four collocations from Phase 03, and one honest reservation, properly hedged.
- Say how you know them and for how long.
- Two or three strengths, using the fixed pairs — not word-for-word from Portuguese.
- One reservation, hedged: She can be a bit… sometimes. A reference with no reservation is not believed.
- Watch the stress on the long adjectives. Your teacher will stop you on a misplaced one.
Two decisions.
1. Which is English?
2. Where is the stress in responsible?
Words and stress
Two counts from your teacher.
1. How many collocations did you use correctly?
2. How many times were you stopped for stress?
Before the long turn
One question.
1. Someone cries at films. Are they sensible or sensitive?
Before Lesson 5. Next lesson you talk for three minutes about one person who matters to you. Choose who, and nothing else.
Do not write anything. Do not rehearse. Choosing is the preparation.