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ADJECTIVES WITH -ED
AND -ING ENDINGS
GRAMMAR LESSON
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Today's grammar lesson will be anything but boring. You
will learn descriptive adjectives that end in -ed and -ing.
This topic often confuses English learners because many
of these adjectives can be written with either an -ed or an
-ing ending, like excited/exciting, bored/boring and
tired/tiring. However, this lesson will help clear up the
confusion to get you on your way to adding perfect
descriptions to your speaking and writing.
ADJECTIVES REVIEW
Adjectives are words used to describe a noun. We use
adjectives to describe size, quality, amount, colour,
feeling, etc.
For example, we can create a basic sentence.
I have a car.
We use adjectives to paint a better picture for the reader or
listener.
I have a red car.
We can use several adjectives in a sentence to create a
more vivid and detailed description.
I have a large, red, Italian car.
-ED ADJECTIVES
Let us start by looking at how and when we use -ed
adjectives. -ed adjectives refer to descriptive adjectives
with an -ed ending, like tired, interested, excited, etc.
Simply put, -ed adjectives describe how a
person feels.
I am bored.
She is tired.
We were amazed.
They are pleased.
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As we can see, we use these adjectives to describe a
person’s feelings. If we replace the “be verb” with the verb
“feel,” we can see how these adjectives express a feeling:
I feel bored.
She feels tired.
-ED ADJECTIVES WITH A PREPOSITION
We can also use -ed adjectives when we use the
prepositions “by, with, in” to explain why a person feels a
certain way.
I was entertained by the dancers’ performance.
The dancer’s performance is what entertained me.
He was impressed with the plans for the new
building.
The new plans are what caused him to feel impressed.
They were interested in my new book.
My new book caused them to be interested.
Remember, we only
use -ed adjectives
when describing
people, and
sometimes animals,
because we are the
only ones that can feel.
We cannot
use
-ed adjectives
to describe
objects
because they
cannot feel.
-ING ADJECTIVES
We use -ing adjectives to describe how a person, place,
animal, book, movie, performance, objects, etc. MAKE a
person feel. But, -ing adjectives do not describe a feeling.
-ing adjectives describe how someone or
something makes a person feel
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Let's look at how we would use an -ing adjective in an
example:
I have been watching a new series recently. I
don’t really like the show because it is rather
slow and doesn’t grab my attention.
How would we describe the show?
Let’s first think about what we are trying to describe - a
show! A television show does not have the ability to feel, it
is an inanimate object (a thing that is not alive).
We use -ed adjectives to describe a feeling, so “bored” is
no longer an option.
We are left with our -ing adjective “boring.” That makes
sense because we use -ing adjectives to describe
inanimate objects, like television shows.
We can now make a sentence using the adjective "boring"
to describe the show.
The new show I am watching is really boring!
If a show is boring,
how would it make
someone feel?
bored
I am bored because I am watching a boring show.
EXAMPLES
His speech was really
interesting.
We are describing a speech, so the
adjective “interesting” works perfectly.
The meal was
extremely satisfying.
We are describing a meal, so we can
use the adjective “satisfying."
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The key takeaway is -ing adjectives
describe the “thing” that causes a
certain feeling, while -ed adjectives
describe the feeling.
MORE EXAMPLES
She was confused whilst watching the movie.
How did she feel?
She felt confused.
What caused her to feel
confused?
The movie she was
watching.
Based on her feeling,
how would we describe
the movie?
The movie was
confusing.
We know that the movie was confusing because she was
confused.
Mary was tired after the long drive.
How did Mary feel?
She was tired.
What caused Mary to
feel tired?
The long drive
Based on how Mary feels,
how can we describe the
long drive?
The long drive was tiring.
We know that the long drive was tiring because Mary
was tired.
UNDERSTAND A PERSON'S FEELING FROM
AN -ING ADJECTIVE
We can also figure out a person’s feelings based on a
descriptive -ing adjective in a sentence.
The workout class I went to this morning was
exhausting!
Our -ing adjective is exhausting.
How would someone feel after
an exhausting workout class?
They would feel exhausted!
I was exhausted after my workout class.
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Activity
Choose the correct ending for each of the descriptive
adjectives in the sentence.
1) She was so excit_____ to travel to Egypt.
a. ing
b. ed
2) Tom was tir______ after his first day of basketball camp.
a. ing
b. ed
3) The first day is always the most exhaust______ - it will get
easier.
a. ing
b. ed
4) Have you read this book? It is so bor______.
a. ing
b. ed
5) They were amaz______ by the stars in the sky last night.
a. ing
b. ed
Choose the correct answer for each question.
6) Paula said that the game was disappointing.
How did Paula feel?
a. disappointing
b. disappoint
c. disappointed
7) This band is so entertaining! What is their name?
How do you feel?
a. entertained
b. entertaining
c. to entertain
8) We just went to the new art exhibit in town, but it was so
confusing!
How did we feel?
a. confuse
b. confusing
c. confused
1) b 2) b 3) a 4) a 5) b 6) c 7) a 8) c
The End
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