68 Pleasant and unpleasant feelings
Happiness and unhappiness
You feel:
ecstatic when you are madly in love or are spiritually uplifted for some reason.
content(ed) when you are peaceful and satisfied with what you have. Notice that content
is not used before a noun. You can say 'She is content' or 'She is contented' but only 'a
contented person'.
cheerful when life is looking quite bright and positive.
grateful when someone has done you a favour.
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 / sick and tired when you have had enough of something disagreeable. You could
be fed up with someone's rudeness, for instance, or sick and tired of someone's
behaviour.
depressed when you are miserable over a long period of time. Depression is considered an
illness in some severe cases.
frustrated when you are unable to d o 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.
Excitement, anger and anxiety
You feel:
excited when you are expecting something special to happen, e.g. before a party or before
a meeting with someone special.
inspired when you are stimulated to creative deeds or words. You might feel inspired after
listening to some very powerful music, perhaps, or you might be inspired to action by a
friend.
enthusiastic when you have very positive feelings about something, e.g. a new project.
thrilled when something extremely exciting and pleasing happens - quite a colloquial
word. She was thrilled when the film star kissed her.
cross when you are angry o r bad-tempered. It is ofen, though not exclusively, used about
small children; quite a colloquial word.
furious/livid/seething when you are extremely angry; livid and seething are more
informal; in a rage/fury are other ways of saying furious or violently angry.
anxious when you are afraid and 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 be
about to happen. I always feel nervous when I have to go to the dentist. Feeling
nervous is a little bit like feeling excited but it is a negative feeling whereas excitement
is positive.
apprehensive when you are slightly nervous or anxious about something in the future.
worried when anxious thoughts are constantly going through your head.
upset when something unpleasant has happened to disturb you. It often combines feelings
of both sadness and anger.
English Vocobulory in Use
Exercises
Complete the following table.
I adjective abstract noun 1 adjective abstract noun
furious ............................. frustrated .............................
............................. anxiety ............................. cheerfulness
grateful ............................. enthusiastic .............................
............................. ecstasy ............................. apprehension
inspired ........................... excited .............................
Choose the best word from those given to complete each of the sentences which follow.
enthusiastic confused cross thrilled depressed
upset fed-up frustrated discontented
1 I didn't know who was telling the truth. I felt totally ..................................
2 Some mothers are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . for several months after the birth of a baby.
3 I think she is bad-tempered because she is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . She wanted to be an
actress and not a school-teacher.
4 Although he seems to have everything anyone could possibly want, he is still
..................................
5 He went skiing for the first time last month, but now he is so .................................
about it that he can talk of little else.
6 My baby brother gets very ................................. by the evening if he doesn't have an
afternoon sleep.
7 This rainy weather has gone on for so long. I feel really . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . with it.
8 He was terribly ................................. when he heard the news of his friend's accident.
9 She was ................................. when she learnt that she had won the first prize.
Write sentences about when you have experienced the following feelings.
Example: anxious I felt anxious until we heard the results of my mother's medical tests.
1 anxious 3 grateful 5 miserable 7 enthusiastic
2 apprehensive 4 in a rage 6 inspired
68.4 The words opposite ending in -ed (apart from contented and delighted) also have -ing forms
e.g. interestedhnteresting and bored/boring. Add the correct ending -ed or -ing.
Example: She was thrilled by her present.
1 I found the film very excit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 The poet was inspir.. .............. by the sunset.
3 This weather is terribly depress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4 It is very frustrat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . when the phones aren't working.
5 She was confus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by the ambiguous remarks he made to her.
You, of course, know the basic expressions: T m hungry/thirsty/hot/cold/tired/cross'.
Colloquially, we often say the same things using a much stronger expression. What do you
think people mean when they say:
1 I'm boiling 3 I'm seething 5 I'm starving
2 I'm dying for a drink 4 I'm freezing 6 I'm worn out
English Vocabulary in Use 137
