Unit 2

Family Relations

1. Transcribe the following words and identify all the sound phenomena in them.

orphan sibling nephew
niece uncle spouse
parents bachelor relative
aunt twins widow
mistress engagement birthday
foster husband spinster

2. Underline the stressed syllable/syllables in these words.


di vor cee (divorcee)
hand so me (handsome)
good - look ing (good-looking)
fa ir- hair ed (fair-haire)
over weight (overweight)
un att ract ive (unattractive)
up turn ed (upturned)
short sight ed (shortsighted)
hook ed (hooked)
ob sti na te (obstinate)
in qui si ti ve (inquisitive)
hard - work ing (hard-working)
wick ed (wicked)
cou ra ge o us (courageous)
su pe rior (superior)

3. In each line circle the word with a different sound in the stressed syllable.


polite shy tidy terrible

admirable imaginative creative practical

sensitive serious selfish sensible

versatile reserved sincere worthy

curious furious industrious amusing

4. Listen to a psychologist talking about the influence your position in the family has on your personality. Complete the chart by writing four more personality adjectives in each column.






Oldest children Middle children Youngest children Only children
self-confident independent charming spoilt

Listen to the interview again and fill in the gaps.


1. It’s eight o’clock and time for .
2. Our guest this morning is Norah Levy.
3. Well, the children get attention from their parents.
4. They make good .
5. The famous Prime Minister, , was a child.
6. The of this is that sometimes this means that when they’re older they a lot about things.
7. Yes, because they have to their brothers and sisters for their parents’ .
8. This is because are usually more when they have their last child.
9. As a result they can be quite .
10. On the positive side, children are usually very and .