Adjectives ending in '-ed' and '-ing'
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
I am raely interested study English language
I'm really interested in studying English language.
I was so excited that I couldn't sleep well.
I am really confused when it comes to studying grammar 😅
hi, I'm also very very worried about learning english
I really interested in learn english, besause i want to be a english teacher. this is so helpful, although there's no explanation. I have to search in another resources
I watched bored webseries called Wednesday
Wednesday series is boring/
good
I am very excited because my English teacher explanation is very interesting and l want to learn anymore.
I was frustrated by the instruction to attend the online training. It was boring.