English vocabulary lesson B2 - Describing relationships in English

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So what are we going to talk to you about  today in the class? Well, in today's class,  

we're going to look at adjectives, and we're  going to look at adjectives to describe  

relationships. We're all involved in relationships  somehow in some part of our lives. Either  

in the past or in the present, and hopefully,  for those of you are not, in the future. So  

relationships are a really, really important  part of our lives. So I'm going to give you some  

insight into the adjectives that we use to  describe different aspects of our relationships,  

both good and bad. Okay, if you have any questions  relating to this, you can always come back to me  

through email, I'll give you the contact  details at the end of this particular class.  

And if you have any other issues, well, as  always, send me an email or send me an email,  

I'd be very, very happy to include them in  future lessons. So let's go that we've got  

14 individual adjectives describing  relationships. So I list them down one by one,  

and then I'll go through them and give you an  example as to what they mean and how to use them.

Supportive, distant, tight-knit, caring,  close, tense, dysfunctional, dysfunctional,  

insincere, hollow, fake, dishonest, weak, stable,  and finally solid. Okay, let's go through them.

And remember these are adjectives.  And they used to describe  

situations, they're usually used to describe  noun. So lots of these situations were describing  

the person or the actual relationship itself.

So we'll start with number one supportive. So this  will be used to describe a person, if a person is  

supportive, then they're going to help. So giving  support is all about giving help. So supportive,  

when we have a problem. Supportive when we need  to have a discussion about our work that we're  

not happy with. Supportive when we had an argument  with our parents or siblings or our children. So  

in a relationship, somebody who's supportive  is really, really important to be there,  

at the right time, the right moment.  Supportive to give help, or lend support.

Second, distant. This will be quite a negative  adjective to use. So we're referring to somebody  

as distant, that means they're not connecting  with us, or they're cutting themselves off  

from communication with others, or  that they seem to be preoccupied.

So when you're trying to talk to somebody who  is distant, they literally could be in another  

location, they could be sitting in front  of you, but their mind is somewhere else,  

their thoughts are on something else, they're  focusing on perhaps their job or focusing on some  

other aspects of their life, but they're cutting  you off. And therefore they look, they feel and  

they... and you can sense that they are distant,  they're not really there. They're in the same room  

but they could be 100 kilometres away because  they don't really communicate, don't connect.

Next word is tight-knit. So, when we use  tight-knit, we often use it not only in  

a relationship of two people, but in relation  to family. So a family relationship we can refer  

to it as a very tight-knit family.  Tight-knit means they are really  

supportive of each other. They spend a  lot of time together. They are there when  

they when each other needs something.The... the  siblings, the brothers and sisters, the parents,  

they spend a lot of time perhaps on  holidays, weekends, dinner, a very  

tight-knit family. If a problem happens for one  member of the family, they're all there to lend  

a helping hand. So tight-knit, meaning really  close, bonded, really connected together. Okay.

Caring. Well, this is a very positive adjective  to use. A caring personality. He has a very caring  

personality. He likes to look after people.  He's always there if his mother or father  

need him. He's very caring. She's very caring  with her elderly grandmother, she goes to visit  

her every weekend, she brings food, she  cleans the house. So she has a very caring  

approach. So, caring means to take care  of. Caring means to be kind and generous,  

and genuinely look after those people who need our  support, or who need our help. So to provide love,  

and affection, and support when it is needed.

Close. Close relationship is a relationship,  which is tight, okay. So a relationship,  

which is not easily broken, a relationship which  is built on trust and love. And both parties to  

the relationship understand each other very,  very well. We have a very close relationship.  

Of course, in all relationships, you can have your  ups and downs, you can have your difficulties,  

you can have your arguments, but overall,  if you're close, nothing is going to get  

in the middle. So everything is close, very  hard to break that to get in between, okay.

So when we're trying to establish a relationship,  that is that is close, we have to understand the  

other party, we have to respect the other party  in the relationship. To understand what they want,  

understand what their needs are. And  also hopefully that they will understand  

our needs, and our wants. Okay, so close.

Yes, I can see they have a very close  relationship, they have been together,  

since they were teenagers, they have  been together since they were at college.  

Nothing seems to upset them. Any difficulties,  

they get through it together. So that will  be a good definition of a close relationship.

Tense. So when a relationship is tense,  not necessarily about the person,  

although a person can be tense, or when you feel  that all your muscles are tight, then you could  

describe yourself as tense or you're waiting for  something bad to happen, then you can be tense,  

you can be on edge. But a tense relationship  is not necessarily a good relationship.  

A tense relationship is something that is  waiting for a bomb to explode or something  

to cause problems. It's never relaxed.  It's nobody in the relationship is ever  

at ease. So there are always problems likely  to happen. Not now, but there could have been  

a week or day. Or a few weeks or a few  days ago or could happen in a couple of  

days or a couple of weeks time. So there's that  tenseness. Meaning there's some likelihood that  

something small could start a row or start  an argument. So... Now, it can be temporary.

There's a very tense relationship  

because he's lost his job and he's  on edge or he's a little bit nervy.

There's a tense relationship because she's not  quite sure whether she wants to get married or  

whether she wants to leave it for another  little while she's quite happy living and  

sharing the same house. But getting married is  a big step. And she needs time to consider that.

So the relationship could be tense for a  little while until she makes a mind up. So  

tense can be permanent, not good and not  good in relationship for either party.  

Or can be temporary because there's some situation  that has arisen, some problem that has arisen  

that is causing this tenseness to be  present for a period of time. Tense.

Dysfunctional. We often hear the expression  a dysfunctional family. Dysfunctional means  

it doesn't work. Okay. And a dysfunctional  family is a family that seems to have no  

rules, no boundaries, no manners, everybody is  doing their own thing. And everybody's getting  

into trouble for different reasons. Somebody's on  drugs, somebody's in trouble with the law. One or  

two members of the family are not working, they're  living on benefits. All sorts of social problems.

And you could put it on to a little package  and describe it as a dysfunctional family,  

yeah. So everybody's doing their own thing. Nobody  looking after the other. Nobody caring for the the  

unity of that particular family. So dysfunctional,  something that doesn't operate. So when we  

use the word functional, it's  if it's functional, it works.  

This introduces this prefix, and it turns  it into negative dysfunctional family. Okay,  

something that just won't  or doesn't work so easily.

Insincere. Another negative adjective insincere.  And somebody is sincere, they truly believe in  

what they say, they're sincere in their thoughts.  So again using the prefix in- we turn it into a  

negative. The opposite insincere. So thoughts  or comments might look on the face of it to be  

friendly, but you know in reality that these are  quite insincere, there's nothing to them. Okay?  

Oh, have a good weekend. Oh, yes, I'm really  sorry for your trouble. Oh... They're just  

words. And somebody doesn't come across as being  sincere, and we can describe him or her as being  

insincere. Or the comments that they make  has been completely insincere. No love,  

no respect, no real meaning or feeling of support  behind them. So completely and utterly insincere.

Hollow. When something is hollow, it's empty,  the hollow tree. So when a tree falls down in  

the forest, and over the years, the  inside of the tree rots and decays,  

you're left with an empty trunk of the tree which  is hollow, okay. The hollow branch where the  

owl or the bird nests for that the spring. So  that... this is a hollow branch, so it's empty.  

So when a relationship is hollow, it  means it's empty, there's no love,  

there's no respect, there are no feelings.  Well, of course, there may be feelings,  

but the feelings may not be positive, so they are  negative feelings, and you feel hollow inside.

So when we have this empty feeling within a  relationship, we feel that there's nobody loving  

us or caring or bothered about us. And if there's  a problem, then we seem to be dealing with the  

problem on our own. So it is and the relationship  is completely and totally hollow or empty.

A hollow sound is an empty sound, you know, if  you stand at the mouth of a cave and you shout,  

you get the echo or the noise, reverberates on  bounces off the walls because it is empty. Okay.  

And that's the feeling when you have a problem  and you've got a hollow relationship, you might  

as well be talking to yourself because the echo  will come back because nobody is listening.

Same way with fake the next word fake when a  relationship is fake, it means false. Okay,  

so it's something that it really isn't, okay. So  if somebody tries to present a relationship as a  

good relationship, but in reality, it's not then  it's a fake relationship. If they try to present,  

that they are a loving couple, or that they are  a couple of care or whatever that might be. But  

deep down both parties to the relationship,  

know that the relationship is  not really a true relationship,  

then it is fake. And fake is a copy something  that is not the original, like a fake painting.

Yeah, so you copy some famous painting and  try to sell it as the original, of course,  

it's not. So it is a fake. It's something that  isn't. So you, you can do all you like you can  

airbrush a photograph, you can do whatever  you wish to but it's not the original. So  

it's going to be fake. So relationships  can be fake, they can be false.

Dishonest. When a relationship is dishonest, that  can really... relate and refer to the person. If  

he or she is done... dishonest. That means  they're not being true to their word. Yeah.  

So they tell you something, but then they break  their promise. They tell you something, then they  

they tell somebody else something different. So  they are being dishonest. And in relationship,  

particularly between two people, if it's supposed  to be a loving relationship, then one of those  

rules, those unwritten rules of the relationship  should be honesty between the two parties.

If somebody's being dishonest, you're they might  say of course I love you. Or, of course, we can do  

that. Of course, you can do that. But in reality,  they mean something else, then they are being  

dishonest. And again, this is honest, the word  adding the prefix dis- and we saw before in a  

couple of words, we had a dysfunctional spelt  dys-. Now we have dishonest. Spell dis- prefix  

in front of honest, turns that into  the negative adjective. So dishonest.

Weak. The relationship is weak, well, then it's  the opposite of strong. So it will collapse at  

any sign of trouble now, so if you don't have a  strong relationship, how are you going to get over  

any troubles, financial troubles, work related  troubles, just general relationship troubles,  

you know, we all go through those issues from  time to time. But if the relationship is strong,  

then it will withstand any of those pressures.  If the relationship is weak, then it's like a  

wet handshake. It's not really worth anything  yet, okay. So, weak means something that cannot  

stand any tension, cannot stand any pressure and  when the pressure comes, the relationship will  

collapse or it will break  because it is fundamentally weak.

Stable, a stable relationship is something that is  is flat, it is even. It's not up and down. Okay,  

it's a stable. Yeah, we get through life because  we have built stability around our lives,  

stability in relation to our working life,  stability in relation to our employment, stability  

in relation to our... how we relate to our  family, and above all, stability in our personal  

relationships. So something that is rocky goes  up and down, okay. Or like this... A rocky table  

moves from side to side. But something stable is  even, it's flat, you know exactly where you are.

Now, of course, in most relationships gets a  little bit boring if it's stable all the time,  

and there's no little sign of excitement. So  

from time to time, you have to jizz and  jazz up the relationship a little bit in  

introduce a little bit of excitement.  That's okay, that's what people expect.  

But it doesn't take away from the fact that there  is genuine stability in the relationship. Stable,  

even, something that can survive the ups and downs  of life, and particularly in the modern life.

And then finally, solid, it's a bit like stable.  Solid is dependable, okay. The table is solid,  

the wall is solid. So when something is solid,  

and you're built on a solid foundation, then  the relationship will withstand pressure points,  

it will be able to survive the argument, it  will be able to survive the disagreement, the  

financial crisis, whatever the crisis  that will happen from time to time.

Well, that's all about relationships. And  remember, this is about adjectives relating  

to relationships, I'm not giving you a  relationship advice, I am the last one  

to do that. But it's about the English,  the adjectives you can use to describe  

the relationships that you might have with  family and friends or work colleagues.

So let me give them to you one more time.  Supportive, distant, tight-knit, caring,  

close, tense, dysfunctional, insincere,  

hollow, fake, dishonest, weak,  stable, and finally solid. As always,

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