English Word Skills Exercises for B1 – Word families

1. Complete the related adjectives and nouns.

2. Complete the sentences with adverbs formed from the nouns in brackets.

1   Angrily, (anger) he threw his bag onto the floor.

2   ‘It’s broken,’ she said ………………………….. (sadness).

3   ………………………….. (happiness), everyone passed the exam.

4   We looked ………………………….. (anxiety) at the screen.

5   He looked ………………………….. (surprise) calm as the exam began.

6   When she’d finished the painting, she ………………………….. (pride) showed it to her friends.

7   I left my bag in the café. ………………………….. (hope), it’s still there!

8   The police officer looked ………………………….. (suspicion) at the men on the street corner.

9   We stood outside the restaurant and stared ………………………….. (hunger) at the menu in the window.

3. Complete the adjectives that are formed from the nouns below.

annoy      bore      care      disgust      excite

help      hope      pain      power      surprise

A   Form adjective with -ed or -ing.

B   Form adjective with -ful or -less.

4. Complete the sentences with adjectives formed from the words in brackets.

1   The leg injury was really …………………………… (pain) – in fact, I was …………………………… (surprise) it wasn’t broken.

2   The shop assistant was very …………………………… (help) and gave me a refund.

3   I’m …………………………… (annoy) with my sister because she broke my sunglasses. She’s so …………………………… (care)!

4   This TV has got really …………………………… (power) speakers, so action films are very loud and …………………………… (excite).

5   I enjoyed the play, but some parts of it were …………………………… (bore).

6   I’ll never get these trainers clean. It’s …………………………… (hope)! They’re …………………………… (disgust)!

5. Complete the article with nouns, adjectives and adverbs formed from the words in brackets. Add prefixes and suffixes if necessary.

Everybody knows that smiling is a sign of 1…………………………… (happy) and that we frown when we are feeling 2…………………………… (happy). Our feelings affect our face. But scientists now believe that our face can also affect our feelings. In other words, smiling can actually help to create a feeling of 3…………………………… (content). And one of the best ways to prevent 4…………………………… (anxious) is to control your facial expression. In one study, volunteers looked at very unpleasant pictures. Some of the volunteers held a pen in their mouth so their face could not move easily. Those volunteers did not feel as 5…………………………… (disgust) by the pictures as the others. Researchers also looked at women who were unable to frown because of botox injection. 6…………………………… (surprise), these women were less likely to suffer from 7…………………………… (depressed), even though they did not feel particularly 8…………………………… (happiness) about the change in their appearance.