Adjectives ending in -ed and -ing
Bored or boring, interested or interesting: -ed says how you feel, -ing says what makes you feel it.
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Many adjectives come in pairs: bored and boring, interested and interesting, tired and tiring. The -ed adjective describes how a person feels. The -ing adjective describes the thing or person that causes the feeling. The film was boring, so I was bored.
The pairs
Feeling (-ed) | Cause (-ing) | Example |
|---|---|---|
bored | boring | The lecture was boring. Everyone was bored. |
interested | interesting | I'm interested in history. It's interesting. |
tired | tiring | The journey was tiring. We were tired. |
excited | exciting | The match was exciting. The fans were excited. |
surprised | surprising | The result was surprising. I was surprised. |
worried | worrying | The news is worrying. We're all worried. |
confused | confusing | The instructions were confusing. I was confused. |
disappointed | disappointing | The hotel was disappointing. We were disappointed. |
Others: annoyed / annoying, embarrassed / embarrassing, frightened / frightening, relaxed / relaxing, amazed / amazing, shocked / shocking, satisfied / satisfying.
-ed: how you feel
Use the -ed adjective for a person (or an animal) who has the feeling.
- I'm bored. Let's go for a walk.
- She was surprised to see us.
- Are you worried about the exam?
- Incorrect: This film is so long. I'm boring.
- Correct: This film is so long. I'm bored.I'm boring means that other people find me dull. For your feeling, use bored.
- Incorrect: I was very interesting in the lecture.
- Correct: I was very interested in the lecture.Your feeling is interested.
-ing: what causes the feeling
Use the -ing adjective for the thing, the situation or the person that makes someone feel that way.
- The lecture was interesting.
- Driving at night is very tiring.
- It was an embarrassing moment.
- Incorrect: The trip was very tired.
- Correct: The trip was very tiring.The trip made us tired, so it was tiring.
People can be -ing too
A person can be -ing when they cause the feeling in others: My new colleague is very annoying. (He annoys me.) Compare:
- He's bored. (He feels it.)
- He's boring. (He makes other people feel it.)
- She was frightened. (Something frightened her.)
- She was frightening. (She frightened other people.)
Get bored, get tired
Get + an -ed adjective says that the feeling starts or grows. It is very common in speech.
- I get bored easily on long journeys.
- My dog gets excited when I come home.
- We got very tired after the long walk.
Make + person + -ed adjective names the cause: Long meetings make me tired. (Long meetings are tiring.)
Prepositions after -ed adjectives
Many -ed adjectives take a fixed preposition. After a preposition, a verb takes -ing.
- interested in: I'm interested in learning Spanish.
- bored with or bored of: I'm bored with this game.
- tired of: She's tired of waiting.
- excited about: The children are excited about the holiday.
- worried about: I'm worried about my brother.
- surprised by or surprised at: We were surprised by the price.
Pronunciation
The -ed ending sounds like the past simple: /d/ in bored and tired, /t/ in relaxed and shocked, and a separate syllable /ɪd/ after t or d, as in interested and excited.
Not every feeling word has this pair. Afraid and scared describe the feeling, and scary the cause: The film was scary, and I was scared.