Adjectives Ending in ING and ED – Participle Adjectives Uses, Definition and Exercises

This complete tutorial for beginners discusses about Adjectives ending in ING and ED learners are going to concentrate on learning about Adjectives ending in ING and ED / Participle Adjectives which are related to feelings. The uses of the ing and ed adjectives list are explained in this article and it provides exercises for the learners to practice and master these words. 

Watch the video to view the list of “ing” and “ed” ending adjectives here to have the full discussion and exercises.

Adjectives ING and ED ending words discussion

They would be able to tell the origin of both types and how they are formed, the meaning and use of -ing and -ed adjectives as well as give examples of the most common -ing and -ed adjectives.

On
Saturday I watched an interesting matched about
tennis.

I
am very interested in tennis match.

John
didn’t like tennis match. He was bored. John thinks that tennis match is
boring.

In
this example “interesting” and “interested” are
both adjectives.

Remember
that Adjectives describe nouns (things, people, animals).

“interesting” and “interested” have different
meanings, they look similar and the spelling is very similar but the meaning is
different. And it is also be same with “boring” and
“bored” they are also both adjectives but
the meaning is different.

This
lesson we will concentrate on -ing and -ed adjectives which are related to
feelings.

The origin of both
types and how they are formed.

        
The meaning and use of -ing adjectives

          The
meaning and use of -ed adjectives

          Examples
of the most common -ing and -ed adjectives

The
origin of -ing and -ed adjectives

In
this lesson we are only discussing adjectives related to feelings because they
confuse students. They confuse students because they have both an -ing and an -ed
form.

-ing and -ed are
formed from verbs.

Verb:
to interests (example: Tennis match interests me)

The
-ing adjective is formed by adding-ing to
the end of the verb:

interest – interesting

This
-ing form is called the present participle.
We are using it as an adjective.

          I watched an interesting
movie.

The
-ed adjective is also formed by adding -ed to the end of the verb.

                   interest
– interested

This
-ed form is called the past participle. We
are using it as an adjective.

          I am very interested
in tennis match.

–ing adjectives
of feeling: Meaning and use

Here
is an example:

I
watched an interesting tennis match.

Remember,
the origin of the adjective “interesting” is
the verb “interest”.

An
-ing adjective describes the cause of the
feeling.

An
-ing adjective describes the source of
the feeling.

What
is the source of the interest? It is the tennis match. (The tennis match interests
me.) We use the -ing adjective to describe it. (interesting tennis match)

-ing adjectives of feelings can describe people (or
animals):

                   I like Peter because he is interesting.

                   The dog doesn’t like to play
it. It is very boring.

-ing adjectives of feelings can also describe
things:

                   The movie was boring.

                   Bangkok was an exciting city.

–ed adjectives of feeling: Meaning and use

I
am very interested in tennis match.

Remember,
the origin of the adjective “interested” is
the verb “interest”.

An
-ed adjective describes a person (or animal)
who has the feeling.

Who
is feeling the interest? It is me (tennis match interest me)

The
-ed adjective describes my feeling. (I am
very interested in tennis match)

-ed adjectives of feeling only describe people (or
sometimes animals):

Peter is excited
because he is going to Bangkok next week.

The dog was very excited
when it saw Peter.

-ed adjectives of feeling do not describe things
because things do not have feelings or emotions:

          The movie was bored.
X

          Bangkok was an excited city. X

Summary of rules

To
describe a thing:

We
an -ing adjective to describe the source
of a feeling.

          interesting movie, exciting city, boring
film

Do
not use an -ed adjective to describe a
feeling for a thing.

To
describe a person or sometimes (or sometimes an animal)

We
use an -ing adjective if the person or
animal is the source of a feeling

          interesting
actor

          He is boring

          The dog is frightening.

We
use an -ed adjectives if the person or
animal is having the feeling.

          He is
interested in biology.

          She is bored.

          The dog is frightened.

Students make mistakes because both -ing and -ed adjectives can be used for people and animals.

frightening

Both
sentences are correct but the meaning is very different.

Is
the person or animal the source of the feeling? (-ing)

Is
the person or animal having the feeling? (-ed)

Common adjectives of feeling with -ing and -ed form

Here are the list of ING and ED of adjectives words examples to exercise:

-ing form             -ed form              verbs

amusing              amused               amuse

annoying             annoyed              annoy

boring                  bored                    bore

confusing             confused             confuse

disappointing      disappointed       disappoint

depressing          depressed           depress

exciting                excited                 excite

frustrating            frustrated            frustrate            

frightening           frightened            frighten

interesting           interested            interest

shocking             shocked              shock

surprising            surprised             surprise

tiring                    tired                     tire

worrying              worried                 worry

Use your dictionaries for the meaning of these words.

Downloadable Material

Here’s the downloadable material of ing Adjectives ending in ING and ED.

For more readings

If you have any questions or suggestions about Adjectives ending in ING and ED, please feel free to leave a comment below or send us a message using our contact page.

Related

Adjectives ending in ED and ING

English Grammar Notes

There are many adjectives that we have in English that end in -ED or -ING.
Yes, that’s correct, they are not only endings that we use for verbs!

An adjective that ends in -ING is used to describe: the characteristic of a person, a thing or a situation.

An adjective that ends in -ED is used to describe: a feeling (or how a person feels) or an emotion. It is used to describe a temporary thing. Since only people (and some animals) have feelings, -ed adjectives cannot be used to describe an object or situation.

Compare the difference:

• My girlfriend is bored. – (My girlfriend feels bored)
• My girlfriend is boring. – (My girlfriend is a boring person)

You can use these adjectives to describe people or situations but be careful that you are using the correct adjective.
For example, there is a big difference in meaning between:

• I am confused. – (I don’t understand something)
• I am confusing. – (I will cause you to be confused)

Note that the sentences below are to highlight the difference between the two types of adjectives. They are NOT common to do or say because they sound repetitive.

• I was shocked by how shocking the accident was last night.
• They were frightened by the frightening roller-coaster ride!
• I am annoyed by how annoying that person in front of us is.
• Sally was confused by the confusing street signs in the city.

Example sentences of adjectives ending in -ED and -ING

• This grammar lesson is boring. I am bored reading all about these grammar rules.
• I am tired right now. My flight was tiring (because it was a twelve-hour flight).
• Public toilets are usually disgusting. I am disgusted by the smell in some of them.
• Your speech was very inspiring. I am now inspired to do wonderful things with my life.

Also see our article about the Pronunciation of words ending in -ED.

Summary chart

List of Adjectives ending in -ED and -ING

There is quite a long list of adjectives ending in -ED and -ING in English, and most of them are based on a verb that can be changed into an adjective by adding
either -ED or -ING.

Some of the more common ones include:

• Alarmed – Alarming
• Aggravated – Aggravating
• Amused – Amusing
• Annoyed – Annoying
• Astonished – Astonishing
• Astounded – Astounding
• Bored – Boring
• Captivated – Captivating
• Challenged – Challenging
• Charmed – Charming
• Comforted – Comforting
• Confused – Confusing
• Convinced – Convincing
• Depressed – Depressing
• Disappointed – Disappointing
• Discouraged – Discouraging
• Disgusted – Disgusting
• Distressed – Distressing
• Disturbed – Disturbing
• Embarrassed – Embarrassing
• Encouraged – Encouraging
• Entertained – Entertaining
• Excited – Exciting
• Exhausted – Exhausting
• Fascinated – Fascinating
• Frightened – Frightening
• Frustrated – Frustrating
• Fulfilled – Fulfilling
• Gratified – Gratifying
• Inspired – Inspiring
• Insulted – Insulting
• Interested – Interesting
• Moved – Moving
• Overwhelmed – Overwhelming
• Perplexed – Perplexing
• Pleased – Pleasing
• Relaxed – Relaxing
• Relieved – Relieving
• Satisfied – Satisfying
• Shocked – Shocking
• Sickened – Sickening
• Soothed – Soothing
• Surprised – Surprising
• Tempted – Tempting
• Terrified – Terrifying
• Threatened – Threatening
• Thrilled – Thrilling
• Tired – Tiring
• Touched – Touching
• Troubled – Troubling
• Unsettled – Unsettling
• Worried – Worrying

Next activity

Check out our interactive game to practice: Adjectives ending in -ED and -ING

Check out our grammar notes about Compound Adjectives which sometimes contain both adjectives and adverbs.

If you found this grammar guide about Adjectives ending in -ED and -ING useful, let others know about it: