In a study, volunteers were shown positive words, such as "peace" and "sharing", and negative words, such as "grief" and "hostile", alongside words they had supplied to describe their partner.

According to scientists, it is possible to predict whether a couple will break up by using a word association test -- and it's much more accurate than simply asking them how they feel about each other.

But do pay close attention to the rest of your partner's language.

You want to know whether your relationship will last, don't listen to those sweet nothings.

In the first test, they were asked to press a button whenever they saw either positive words or partner-related words, and in the second, to do it whenever they saw negative words or partner-related words. The test had a time limit.

Study author Ronald Rogge said: "What really excited me in our results was that our measure seemed to do a better job of predicting outcomes than what the people told us about their relationships.

People who exhibited negative feelings to their partners were about seven times more likely to break up over the next year."

"It really is giving us a unique glimpse into how people were feeling about their partners-giving us information that they were unable or unwilling to report. A lot of people don't want to tell you if they"re starting to feel less happy in their relationship," Rogge said.