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 (202 votes)

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

Submitted by Zhanbolat on Fri, 12/03/2021 - 14:30

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I don't have any money. Would you add new exercises for poor people

Submitted by Zhanbolat on Fri, 12/03/2021 - 14:25

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Please Add the new answers. Thank you

Submitted by Maahir on Tue, 09/03/2021 - 20:57

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Dear learnenglish team, You're really doing great for helping us improve our English skills. But, I was just wondering how can I identify the lessons I have taken to avoid confusing about where I am.

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