Relationships

Reading and speaking:

• Is there a similar trend in your country?
• Do you live or have you ever lived away from your family?
• Would you like to? Under what circumstances?
• What are the advantages/disadvantages of living alone or with friends, rather than with family?

Vocabulary and speaking:
Read these descriptions of people you might live with. Say if they are
-easy to live with
-difficult to live with
-mixed/depends

• Which characteristics on the list would you personally find most difficult?
• Is there any behaviour not mentioned that also drives you mad?
• Does anyone you live or have lived with have any of these faults?
• Are you guilty of any of these habits?

Vocabulary:

Personality

1) big-headed: adjective DISAPPROVING
thinking that you are more important or more clever than you really are:
She's so big-headed!
2) big-hearted: adjective
kind and generous
3) lazybones: pl.n. Informal. (used with a sing. verb)
A lazy person.
4) a tidy mind: clearly organized and systematic: a tidy mind
Idiom: 'Tidy desk, tidy mind'
A cluttered or disorganised environment will affect your clarity of thought. Organised surroundings and affairs will allow for clearer thought organisation.
5) idle: adjective
lazy and not willing to work:
He's a very able student, he's just bone idle (= very lazy).
6) infantile: adjective DISAPPROVING
typical of a child and therefore unsuitable for an adult:
infantile behaviour
childish: adjective
1 typical of a child:
childish handwriting
2 DISAPPROVING If an adult is childish, they behave badly in a way that would be expected of a child:
He wasn't enjoying the occasion so he thought he'd spoil it for everyone else - it was very childish of him.
7) immature: adjective
DISAPPROVING not behaving in a way which is as calm and wise as people expect from someone of your age:
Stop being so silly and immature, Ben!
She's rather immature for her age, don't you think?
8) strict: adjective
word to describe people, organizations etc. that demand that their laws or rules are always obeyed and punish anyone who does not obey.
My father was very strict, he never let us go out on our own.
9) frivolous: adjective
1 behaving in a silly and foolish way when you should be serious:
I think he sees her as a frivolous young woman.
10) anorak: noun [C] UK DISAPPROVING
a boring person who is too interested in the unimportant details of a hobby and finds it difficult to meet and spend time with other people:
There are enough facts and figures in this book to keep even the most obsessive anorak fascinated for hours.
12) bunny boiler: An obsessive and dangerous female, in pursuit of a lover who has spurned her (reject).
Origin: from the 1987 film Fatal Attraction. The plot concerns a woman scorned (Glenn Close) who obsessively pursues her ex-lover (Michael Douglas). The phrase comes from the plot device where Close boils Douglas's daughter's pet rabbit.
The bunny boiler phrase, taking the lead from the film, was first used to refer to someone who is unable to remain rational at the end of a romantic relationship. Very quickly that became moderated and used, with some degree of irony, in much less extreme situations. Any needy, mildly possessive or even just annoying woman is now liable to be described as a 'bunny boiler'.13) busy body:
14) couch potato: noun [C] INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
a person who watches a lot of television and does not have an active style of life
15) crank: (STRANGE PERSON) noun [C] INFORMAL
a person who has strange or unusual ideas and beliefs
16) clock watcher: noun [C] DISAPPROVING
a person who continually looks at the watch to see what time it is in order to see how much longer he has to work
17) a pain (in the neck): INFORMAL
someone or something that is very annoying:
That child is a real pain in the neck.
a pain in the arse/backside: UK AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH (US pain in the ass/butt) OFFENSIVE
someone or something that is very annoying:
The kids were a real pain in the arse.
18) BLUE STOCKING: noun
1. a woman with considerable scholarly, literacy, or intellectual ability or interest.
2. a member of a mid-18th-century London literary circle.
Origin: 1675-85, so called form the informal attire, esp. blue woolen instead of black silk stockings, worn by some women of the group.
Phrasal verbs and phrases
1) chat sb up: phrasal verb [T] UK INFORMAL
to talk to someone in a way that shows them that you are sexually attracted to them:
He spent all evening chatting her up and buying her drinks.
2) creep around: [T] BrE informal
to be falsely nice to someone in authority, in order to gain advantage yourself
I hate the way Carl is always creeping round the boss.
3) fit in: [I] to be accepted by other people in a group because you have the same attitude and interests. At first I felt really awkward but eventually I learned to fit in.
4) join in: [I,T] to take part in an activity as one of a group of people. I'm really worried about my little girl. She's very shy and won't join in any activities.
5) push around: [T] to give someone orders in a rude or threatening way. George seems to think that he can just push people around without them getting upset.
6) put up with: [T] to accept an unpleasant person or situation without complaining. I'm not prepared to put up with that kind of rudeness.
7) run round after: [T] to spend a lot of time doing small jobs for someone. I've spent all morning running round after the children. I'm completely exhausted!
8) show off: [T] to try to impress people and make them admire your abilities, achievements or possessions. Please don't pay any attention to Susan. She always shows off in front of people she doesn't know.
9) stick with: [T] informal
to stay with someone even if there are difficulties. Listen to this! I've got a fantastic plan! If you stick with me, we'll make a fortune together.
stick with sth/sb phrasal verb INFORMAL
to continue doing something or using someone to do work for you, and not stopping or changing to something or someone else:
He said that he was going to stick with the traditions established by his grandfather.
He's a good car mechanic - I think we should stick with him.
10) (people from) all walks of life: people from all different classes and positions in life. The club attracts people from all walks of life.
11) inverted snobbery: BrE
The idea that everything that is typical of the upper classes must be bad.
he changed his accent- an example of inverted snobbery.
12) storm out/off (of/up to another place): to go somewhere in a noisy, fast way to show you are angry.
Helen was so furious, she stormed out of the room.

dictionary.cambridge.org
usingenglish.com
dictionary.com
Longman Language Activator
www.phrases.org.uk
Cutting Edge Advanced-Phrase Builder

LISTENING COMPREHENSION, VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR AND SPEAKING:
Listen to seven people describing a person they find or found difficult to live with. Who are they talking about? Which of these characteristics do they mention? Why do they find these people difficult to live with?




SPEAKING: Choose one of these people and talk about typical habits.
-s1 you live with now
-s1 you used to live with
-a colleague or acquaintance who irritates you
-a neighbour you don't/didn't like
-s1 who looked after you a lot when you were a child
-a teacher from primary or secondary school

Most activities were taken form Cutting Edge Advanced.