The difference between feelings and personality adjectives
Adjectives are used to describe different aspects of things, they make language colourful and interesting. We are going to look at the difference between feeling and personality adjectives in this post.
Feelings or moods are temporary states. We use them to talk about our current mood and these can change depending on our surroundings. As they are temporary, when someone asks you a question like, “How are you?”, “How are things?” or “How’s it going?” our answers can vary.
Personality adjectives are permanent aspects or traits. They can develop slowly over time, but they are usually permanent. We use the question “What are you like?” to ask about personality.
Sometimes an adjective can be used as a feeling or a personality traits, we can put emphasis on the fact that it is permanent by saying I am a ___ person.
E.g. My sister is always upbeat = My sister is an upbeat person.
Here is a comprehensive list of adjectives:
| POSITIVE | NEGATIVE | |
| FEELINGS | Calm
Amazed Surprised Entertained Relaxed Excited Proud Cheerful/jolly/glad upbeat |
Moody
Upset Annoyed Shocked Fed-up Depressed Stressed Shy Grumpy |
| PERSONALITY | Brave
Chatty/sociable/outgoing Clever Generous Friendly Kind Funny/amusing Hard-working Easy-going |
Cowardly
Shy Thick/dumb/dense Stingy/tight/selfish Unfriendly Unkind Boring/dull Lazy Uptight |
DOWNLOAD THIS LIST IN PDF HERE
Intensifiers: take a look at DETERMINERS AND INTENSIFIERS
Very/really + adjective = I am a really generous person.
Quite/pretty/rather + adjective = My twin brother is quite lazy and rather stingy.
Practice questions:
- What are you like?
- How is it going today?
- Would you rather be friendly or funny?
- Would you say that you are pretty upbeat?
- Is it better to be outgoing or shy?
- Who is the most uptight person you know?
- Is anyone in your family stingy?
- Are you a rather lazy person?
