Adjectives ending in '-ed' and '-ing'

Adjectives ending in '-ed' and '-ing'

Do you know the difference between bored and boring? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how adjectives ending in -ed and -ing are used.

I was really bored in that presentation.
That was a really boring presentation.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar test 1

Grammar test 1: Adjectives ending in '-ed' and '-ing'

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

Adjectives that end in -ed (e.g. bored, interested) and adjectives that end in -ing (e.g. boring, interesting) are often confused.

-ed adjectives

Adjectives that end in -ed generally describe emotions – they tell us how people feel.

I was so bored in that lesson, I almost fell asleep.
He was surprised to see Helen after all those years.
She was really tired and went to bed early.

-ing adjectives

Adjectives that end in -ing generally describe the thing that causes the emotion – a boring lesson makes you feel bored.

Have you seen that film? It's really frightening.
I could listen to her for hours. She's so interesting.
I can't sleep! That noise is really annoying!

Here are some adjectives that can have both an -ed and an -ing form.

annoyed annoying
bored boring
confused confusing
disappointed disappointing
excited exciting
frightened frightening
interested interesting
surprised surprising
tired tiring
worried worrying

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2

Grammar test 2: Adjectives ending in '-ed' and '-ing'

Average: 4.4 (146 votes)
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Submitted by LayaGol on Fri, 14/01/2022 - 23:08

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Hello! Thank you so much for such useful lesson! Can you tell me, please, which ending have I to add in this case "The idea of affordable green housing is a criticizing/ criticized topic, with some critics saying that it is a fallacy" It must be ending -ing, am I right? Or, maybe, I can use both variants? Thank you in advance!

Hi LayaGol,

It should be 'criticised' ('The idea of affordable green housing is criticised, with some critics saying ...). The meaning is that the idea is criticised by people (i.e., by critics).

Not all adjectives have both -ed and -ing forms. The word 'criticising' doesn't exist as an adjective, only as an -ing verb form.

I hope that helps.

Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by mustafaraad on Thu, 02/12/2021 - 16:56

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remi say thank you

Submitted by hohuudong on Sat, 13/11/2021 - 02:29

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thanks , it relly useful

Submitted by mediafnc on Mon, 18/10/2021 - 17:17

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Learnt something new today - 'ed' adjective as the emotion and 'ing' as adjective to cause the emotion. Thanks.

Submitted by Juliana Dara on Mon, 16/08/2021 - 11:08

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Thanks, its a good test.

Submitted by EdithF on Fri, 30/07/2021 - 16:24

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9I´m surprised how easy this lesson was. :)

Submitted by Ivan50 on Sun, 27/06/2021 - 06:15

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It was really interesting lesson.

Submitted by Hussainhxh on Mon, 12/04/2021 - 19:24

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Really confusing