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 (212 votes)
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Submitted by Elias_Hossain on Thu, 26/03/2020 - 17:05

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Submitted by Khin Nyein Chan on Fri, 20/03/2020 - 08:43

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Thank you very much good grammar lessons.

Submitted by Ghulam Ali Shah on Mon, 16/03/2020 - 07:21

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Hello Ghulam Ali Shah

We're so glad that you find our work useful! Thanks very much for letting us know.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Axggdamer on Sun, 08/03/2020 - 17:19

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Is this page only teach to someone with feelings?, sorry for the stupid question but Im a mexican trying to learn some english in his spare time. I dont know even whether this is universal or no

Hello Axggdamer

There are many adjectives that don't end in '-ed' or '-ing'. You can make an adjective from the present participle ('-ing') or past participle ('-ed') of many verbs, but not all.

Most of the adjectives that end in '-ed' and '-ing' do refer to feelings or reactions, but there are some (e.g. 'boiling' and 'boiled') that do not.

Hope this helps!

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team