Listen to a new episode of Speak English Now Podcast, your favorite material for practicing your spoken and heard English. You will also learn about lifestyle and culture, language, vocabulary, and how to improve your English more effectively.

Transcript:

Hi, everybody! I am Georgiana, your English teacher and founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. My mission is to help you speak English fluently.

In this episode:

– We continue with the flaws in English. We’re going to learn four more words.

– In part two, you’ll practice grammar with a point of view lesson.

Remember, you can get the transcript and much more at SpeakEnglishPodcast.com

Last week I talked about flaws. Unlike virtues, flaws are undesirable characteristics of someone’s personality.

Stinginess: when you don’t ever want to spend money.

Indifference: When you have no interest or empathy for something or someone.

Intransigence: When you are rigid in your positions and never make concessions.

Gossip: When you are indiscreet in talking about others.

Today we are going to look at four more flaws.

Let’s start!

#1 Greed

In a previous episode, I talked about stinginess. If you remember, it means trying not to spend money. Well, we have another word that may have some relation. I’m talking about the word greed. A greedy person desires to possess and acquire wealth to keep it. For sure, a stingy person can also be greedy, although not necessarily.

The idea is to accumulate wealth. Let’s look at an example:

“Although their offer isn’t very appealing, I have to be careful not to be greedy and spoil everything.”

#2 Envy

Ah, envy. It is the feeling of longing or resentment caused by another person’s possessions, qualities, or good fortune. That is, an envious person feels bad when someone else has or gets something beneficial or desirable.

Example:

– Look at Tom and his new car. How did he afford it? I wish I had a car like that.

– Maybe you’re a little envious.

– Me? Envious? No. It’s just that I am a better driver than he is.

Sometimes envy can stimulate greed.

Let’s continue!

#3 Unpunctuality

Who hasn’t been unpunctual at some time? Being unpunctual -or being late- regularly can be quite annoying to others, as it is a waste of their time.

I love being punctual and appreciate it when others are more or less punctual. However, I have a friend who is always twenty minutes late. I guess she has no understanding of time management.

Okay, let’s look at the following example:

“Alice, this is the fourth day in a row that you have been unpunctual for work.”

(END OF THE EXTRACT)

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