Material Unit 2

Adjectives that end ‘-ed’ (e.g. ‘bored’, ‘interested’) and adjectives that end ‘-ing’ (e.g. ‘boring’, ‘interesting’) are often confused.

-ed adjectives

Adjectives that end ‘-ed’ describe emotions – they tell us how people feel about something.-ed adjectives

I was very bored in the maths lesson. I almost fell asleep. He was surprised to see Helen. She’d told him she was going to Australia. Feeling tired and depressed, he went to bed.

-ing adjectives

Adjectives that end ‘-ing’ describe the thing that causes the emotion – a boring lesson makes you feel bored.

Have you seen that film? It’s absolutely terrifying. I could listen to him for hours. He’s one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. I can’t eat this! It’s disgusting! What is it?

Remember that people can be boring but only if they make other people feel bored.

• He talks about the weather for hours. He’s so boring.
• NOT I was very boring at the party so I went home.

Here are some more adjectives that can have both an ‘-ed’ and an ‘-ing’ form

Click on the links below to practice

exercise 1 | exercise 2 | exercise 3