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 .
