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
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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
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Grammar test 2: Adjectives ending in '-ed' and '-ing'
Hi vanessa Rodri,
That's great! Thanks for your kind comment :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Rissa,
I'm not aware of any such list. In fact, I can think of many adjectives which are neither -ing or -ed, but very few adjectives which only occur in one form, such as hardworking. There are also examples where the -ing form is not an adjective at all, such as misunderstanding, and the adjectival form is a past participle (misunderstood - an irregular form rather than the regular -ed).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ayuloraine sitanggang,
No, you can use these adjectives to speak about any time. It's usually the verb that indicates the time -- for example:
She was worried.
She will be worried.
She is worried.
Does that make sense?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team