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
this lesson war really intersting even though i get a little bit bored
It's an easy lesson. I passed the test without errors.
The music was interesting for me
I'm interested to hear the music
Are both sentences is correct?
Hi Hussainpoor,
Yes, they're both correct!
If you want to make them similar to each other in meaning, since sentence 1 is in the past simple ("was"), you can say "I was interested ..." in sentence 2 as well.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
I was surprised about her new song, because her vocal is really good and her dancing skill is so amazing.
Great explanation!
very good lesson
This lesson is really difficult, I don't understand when to use "ed" and when to use "ing". I tried to practice with the examples but I still don't understand them well. I'm worried about it. Who can help me with this problem? Thank so lot.
Hello Nguyentiep,
Could you please ask us a more specific question? I think we will be able to help you better if we can see how you are thinking.
If you don't know what to ask, please explain to us what you think the difference is between a specific pair of adjectives, for example, 'tired' and 'tiring'. We can then respond to help you understand.
Does that sound OK?
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
I made a lot of mistakes on this topic and this situation made me feel really foolish but today I have learned that if I'm in a confusing situation, I need to think twice.