Some educational institutions use words such as "excellent," "good," "satisfactory" and "poor" to describe student achievement, rather than letter or number grades. These words tend towards the formal end of the register, while words such as "awesome," "groovy" and "so-so" are more colloquial. "Excellent," "satisfactory," "awesome" and "groovy" can't be modified with the adverb very. Some adjectives behave like integers; they are points along a continuum, while others are a continuum unto themselves.
As with these report card achievement words, "helpful," "considerate," "responsible" and "well-behaved" are all words we would like to hear about our children or even about ourselves. Fixing the intention behind calling someone "ambitious" poses a challenge, as the word seems both complimentary and insulting, one step away from the sins of pride and envy. On the other hand, "content" and "satisfied" do not seem so far removed from "complacent," which most definitely is not a compliment.
How you view and interact with the world can be summed up with the word "attitude." How odd that the adjective "bad" fronts the noun "attitude" on a regular basis, but you seldom hear of a "good" attitude. "Positive," "enthusiastic" and "eager" describe someone you'd like to work with and know, while "sullen," "half-hearted" and "reluctant" tend towards the negative. Reluctance, however, could be a mitigating quality, as in "a reluctant gang member."
Many adjectives are formed from the past participles of verbs, among them the personal adjectives "bored," "excited," "exhilarated," "interested," "depressed" and "embarrassed." At first blush they appear to be past tense verbs, but you can use them just like adjectives, before nouns and after connecting verbs such as "be" and perception verbs. Test personal adjectives by trying to modify people, places and things with them. If they can only modify people, they are true personal adjectives. For instance, you could say "the bored student," but not "the bored river" or "the bored car."