This document contains 20 short passages describing different emotions such as afraid, lonely, guilty, relieved, embarrassed, angry, nervous, sleepy, bored, bitter, excited, ashamed, curious, disappointed, and depressed. Each passage is followed by a question to elicit a personal response from the reader about a time they felt that emotion.

1. © Sergio Viñals - 2007

2. afraid
He always slept with the light on
because he was afraid of the dark.
Can you mention two things you are afraid of?

3. lonely
For the first six months after her husband
died, she felt very lonely and longed for company.
Can you remember a situation when you felt
particularly lonely?

4. guilty
Many children, when they grow up and have their
own families, sometimes feel guilty about not
seeing their parents very often.
Have you ever felt guilty about something?

5. relieved
She was very relieved when the doctor
told her that she didn’t have the flu.
Can you describe a situation when you were
relieved?

6. embarrassed
He felt very embarrassed and started to blush
when the teacher caught him cheating.
Tell your classmates a situation when you felt
really embarrassed

7. angry
He became very angry when I told him
that someone had damaged his car.
Can you describe a situation when you felt very
angry?

8. nervous
Although he is a great actor, he still gets
very nervous before every performance.
Can you describe a situation when you get really
nervous?

9. sleepy
I think I’ll go to bed. I’m feeling
rather sleepy.
In what circumstances do you feel sleepy?

10. bored
I’m bored with watching TV all the time.
Can we do something else for a change?
What things are you bored with?

11. bitter
The Prime Minister was still very bitter
about the way he had been forced to resign.
Can you describe a bitter experience you’ve
been through?

12. excited
The children were very excited at the
thought of going to see the circus.
Can you think of something you are excited
about?

13. ashamed
He felt ashamed of himself for
behaving so badly last night.
Have you ever felt ashamed of something you’ve
done?

14. curious
Why didn’t Cathy and John get
married? Tell me, I’m very curious!
Can you remember a situation when you felt
really curious?

15. disappointed
She was very disappointed when she didn’t get
the job with the BBC. She really thought she had
got it.
Can you remember a situation when you felt very
disappointed?

16. depressed
Bill’s feeling really depressed these days. He’s just
lost his job, and this morning his girlfriend called
to say she had a lover.
What situations make people get depressed?

17. THE END
Source:
‘Target Vocabulary 2’, by Peter Watcyn-Jones
Adapted by Sergio Viñals for NI-1 students