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
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
thanks , it relly useful
Learnt something new today - 'ed' adjective as the emotion and 'ing' as adjective to cause the emotion. Thanks.
Hello Maahir,
We don't keep a record of which pages have been visited or which tasks have been completed by each user. Perhaps one day we'll add this functionality, but for the moment you'll need to use your own memory or keep your own records.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team