Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment [ 16 ]

16- ] Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment 

5-] Belief and opinion .

A-] Verbs connected with beliefs and opinions :

- You know ‘think’ and ‘believe’ .

- I’m ‘convinced’ we’ve met before . [ very strong feeling that you’re right ]

- I’ve always ‘held’ that compulsory education is a waste of time . [ formal , used for very firm beliefs ; ‘maintain’ could be used here ]

-She ‘maintains’ that we’re related , but I’m not convinced . [ formal ; insist on believing , often against the evidence ; ‘hold’ could not be used here ]

- I ‘feel’ she shouldn’t be forced to do the job . [ strong personal opinion ]

- I ‘reckon’ they’ll get married soon . [ informal ; usually an opinion about what is likely to happen / to be true ]

- I ‘doubt’ we’ll ever see total world peace . [ I don’t believe]

- I ‘suspect’ a lot of people never even think about pollution when they’re driving their own car . [ fairly formal ; have a strong feeling about something negative ]

B-] Phrases for expressing opinion :

- ‘In my view’ , ‘In my opinion’ , we ‘haven’t made any progress’ . [fairly formal]

- She’s made a big mistake ‘to my mind’ . [fairly informal]

- ‘If you ask me’ , he ought to change his job . [ informal ]

- Note how ‘point of view’ is used in English .

From a teacher’s ‘point of view’ , the new examinations are a disaster .  [ how teachers see things , or are affected ]

C-] Prepositions used with belief and opinion words :

Do you ‘believe in’ life after death ? What are your ‘views on’ divorce ?

What do you ‘think of’ the new boss ?

Are you ‘for’ or ‘against’ long prison sentences ? [ neutral / informal ]

I’m ‘ in favor of’ [ opposite 'opposed to’ ] long prison sentences . [ formal ]

I have my ‘doubts about’ this plan .

D-] Beliefs , ideologies , philosophies , convictions :

Ideologies                            beliefs                              convictions

   /        \                                  /          \                                   /                \

Left-/right-wing              philosophies                          religious    morals

   /                \                         /                    \                         /                   \

socialist   conservative    intellectual   personal      Muslim      pacifist

                                            /                     \

                                        Darwinist         vegetarian

E-] Some adjectives for describing people’s beliefs and views , in pairs of similar , but not exactly the same meaning :

fanatical / obsessive , eccentric / odd , conservative / traditional  , middle-of-the-road / moderate , dedicated / committed , firm / strong .

5-]Pleasant and unpleasant feelings .

A-] Happiness and unhappiness :

You feel :

‘ecstatic’ : when you experience an intense and overpowering feeling of delight .

‘content[ed] when you are satisfied with what you have . Notice that ‘content’ is ore a noun .You can say ‘She is content’ or ‘She is contented’ but only ‘a contented person’ .

‘cheerful’ when life is looking bright and positive .

‘grateful’ when someone has done something thoughtful for you .

‘delighted’ when something has happened that gives you great pleasure , when you hear news of someone’s good fortune , for instance .

‘miserable’ when everything seems wrong in your life .

‘discontented’ when your life is not giving you satisfaction .

‘fed-up’ l ‘sick’ and ‘tired’ when you have had enough of something disagreeable . You could ‘be fed-up’ with someone’s rudeness , or ‘sick [and tired]’ of someone’s behavior .

‘depressed’ when you are miserable over a long period of time . Depression is considered ab illness in some severe cases .

‘frustrated’ when you are unable to do something that you want to do .

‘confused’ / ‘mixed up’ when you cannot make sense of different conflicting feelings or ideas : mixed up is more colloquial .

B-] Excitement , anger and anxiety :

You feel :

‘excited’ when you are expecting something special to happen , e.g. before a party.

‘inspired’ when you are stimulated to create deeds or words . You might feel ‘inspired by’ a really talented musician to learn how to play a musical instrument.

‘enthusiastic’ when you have very positive feelings about something , ‘enthusiastic about’ e.g. a new project .

‘thrilled’ [ informal ] when something extremely exciting and pleasing happens . She was ‘thrilled’ when the film star kissed her .

‘cross’ [ informal ] when you are angry or bad-tempered . It is often , though not exclusively , used about small children . Stop getting so cross with me .

‘furious / livid / seething with someone about something when you are extremely angry ; livid and seething are informal ; ‘in a rage/ fury’ also mean furious or violently angry .

‘anxious’ when you are afraid or uncertain  about the future . I am so anxious about the results of my exams that I can’t sleep .

‘nervous’ when you are afraid or anxious about something that is about to or may happen . I feel ‘nervous about’ going to the dentist . Feeling nervous is a little bit like feeling excited but it is a negative feeling whereas excitement is positive .

‘apprehensive about’ , e.g. an important meeting ; when you are slightly nervous or anxious about something in the future .

‘worried about’ , e.g. an operation; when anxious thoughts constantly go through your head .

‘upset about’ , e.g. a quarrel ; when something unpleasant has happened to disturb you . It often combines feelings of both sadness and anger .  

Likes , dislikes and desires .

A-] Words and expressions relating to liking :

- I ‘quite liked’ Ahmad when we first met .

- Although lots of my friends found him attractive , I didn’t ‘fancy’ him at all .

-I was more ‘tempted’ by his sports car than by him at first .

- I really ‘enjoyed’ spending time with him .

- He ‘fascinated’ me with his stories of his travels .

- Something mysterious about his also ‘attracted’ me .

- Moreover , we were both very ‘keen on’ sailing .

- Soon she realized she had ‘fallen in love’ with him .

- His sense of humor really ‘appealed to’ me .

- I was also ‘captivated by’ his smiling eyes .

- I absolutely ‘adore’ him .

- I can’t understand why I didn’t ‘fall for’ him the moment we first set eyes on  each other .

- He is a very ‘caring’ person , ‘fond of’ animals and small children .

- He is always ‘affectionate’ and ‘loving’ towards me and ‘passionate about’ me and the cases he believes in and the people he ‘cares for’ .

- I hope we’ll always ‘worship’ each other as much and be as ‘devoted to’ our life together as we are now .

B-] Words and expressions relating to disliking :

- ‘Loathe’ , ‘detest’ , ‘despise’ , ‘hate’ , ‘cannot stand’ and ‘cannot bear’ are all stronger ways of saying dislike and they are all followed by a noun or an ‘-ing’ form .

e.g. I loathe , detest , despise , hate , cannot stand ,cannot bear bad-mannered people .

- ‘Repel’ , ‘revolt’ , ‘appall’ and ‘disgust’ are all strong words used to describe the effect of which something detested has on the person affected .

e.g. His paintings ‘disgust’ me . I was ‘revolted’ by the way he spoke . We were ‘appalled’ by the conditions in the refugee camp . His behavior ‘repels’ everyone.

C-] Words and expressions relating to desiring :

‘Desire’ is used either as a formal verb to express a sexual wish for someone or else it is quite a formal word for wish . e.g. He ‘desired’ her the moment he saw her .

I have a strong ‘desire’ to see the Himalayas before I die .

- ‘Look forward to’ means think about something in the future with pleasant anticipation . The opposite of ‘look forward to’ is ‘dread’ .

e.g. I am looking forward to going to Fiji but I’m dreading the flight .

- ‘Long for’ means to wish for something very much .

e.g. After this long , cold winter , I’m longing for spring .

- ‘Yearn for’ is a more poetic way of saying ‘long for’ .

e.g. He will never stop ‘yearning for’ his country , although he knows he can never return .

D-] Ways of addressing loved ones :

- ‘dearest’ , ‘sweetheart’ , ‘darling’ , ‘love’ , ‘dear’ , and ‘pet’ .

‘Pet’ is used mainly to children . It’s best for you , however , to keep such words for people you have a close relationship with .