Adjectives with ed and ing + simple QUIZ
In today’s post, you will learn how to use English adjectives that end with ed and ing. You will also find a simple quiz at the end of the post.
Adjectives are an important part of our communication. They let us give more detail to our conversations and help to make our ideas clear.
“My new business plan is very exciting! I’m sure you will think so too after I present it to you.”
“I’m bored with my current job. I think it’s time to look for something different.”
Many common adjectives end with the letters ‘ed’ or ‘ing’ and sometimes they are easily confused. Here is a basic rule to help you to use them correctly.
_ED adjectives describe your feeling.
_ING adjectives describe the thing that gives you that feeling.
My job is boring so I’m bored.
-The thing (my job) is boring.
-The feeling (your feeling) is bored.
The movie was exciting so he was excited.
-The thing (the movie) was exciting.
-The feeling (his feeling) was excited.
Her photo is embarrassing so she felt embarrassed when her friend saw her high school yearbook.
-The thing (her photo) is embarrassing.
-The feeling (her feeling) is embarrassed.
More examples:
“I’m bored, this party sucks.”
“I’m going home because your party is boring. Where’s the Karaoke?”
“We were excited when my friend gave us tickets to Disney Sea!”
“It will be exciting to ride the new roller coaster!”
“When I saw her yearbook photo she was so embarrassed.”
“Her hairstyle is embarrassing!”
This post is taken directly from my 5 Simple Communication Tips online course. The course has 5 units that you can use to speak English naturally and with confidence. For more info and a free trial from the course click HERE.
Here are some more examples of adjectives that use ‘ed’ and ‘ing.
- annoyed – annoying
My little brother is so annoying!
You are annoyed because another person (your little brother) is annoying.
Ed adjectives describe a person’s feeling, but the thing that gives us that feeling can also be a person.
- amazed – amazing
“That show was amazing! My friends and I were amazed by the concert.”
- confused – confusing
“Calculus is confusing. I get confused every time I do my math homework.”
- depressed – depressing
“Greg just told me a depressing story. I feel depressed now.”
- disappointed – disappointing
“I’m very disappointed in you. Your behavior was very disappointing.”
- encouraged – encouraging
“I was about to give up on my project, but my friend just gave me some great advice. Now I’m more encouraged. His talk was very encouraging.”
- exhausted – exhausting
“Work was exhausting today. I’ve never been so busy! I’m exhausted.”
- frightened – frightening
“I heard the new haunted house attraction was frightening, I didn’t think it was scary at all. My 8 year old nephew was frightened though.”
- interested – interesting
“My coworker made an interesting presentation at the office today. He has a plan to double our sales. My boss looked very interested.”
- puzzled – puzzling
“Personally I was puzzled by his plan. Some of his ideas were smart, but I found many puzzling.”
- relaxed – relaxing
“I love hot springs! They are really relaxing. Nothing else can make me feel so relaxed.”
- satisfied – satisfying
“It was a good movie, but the end was not satisfying at all. I don’t feel good to leave the theater it I’m not satisfied by the movie’s ending.”
- shocked – shocking
“I wasn’t satisfied, but I was shocked! The ending was a surprise, a bad surprise. It was very shocking.”
- thrilled – thrilling
“I was thrilled to hear I won a free vacation to South Africa! I plan to have some thrilling adventures in the Safari parks.”
* _ed and _ing adjectives usually follow this rule, but there are exceptions. I learned that this rule works MOST of the time, but not EVERY time. That was unexpected.
– if something surprises you, it was unexpected.
Quickly Improve English Pronunciation – To BE Contractions (+ Video)
Adjectives ed and ing
Fast QUIZ
Choose the correct adjective in the story.
(This story comes right from my Online Course.)
I’m a baker. My job is difficult but I enjoy it. I wake up at 4:00 am each morning and go to the bakery. Some people don’t think baking bread is very excited/exciting but I like it. I’m never bored/boring. I usually drink coffee at work because around 5:30 I start to feel tired/tiring. The store opens at 7:00 and our customers at that time are usually businessmen who want a coffee and a snack to eat on the way to work. I have met some very interested/interesting people. One of my customers is a movie director! I love his movies. I think they are amazed/amazing.
You will find the correct answers at the bottom of this page. It is helpful to write your answers in a notebook or on a computer or other device. Writing sentences helps you remember them in the future!
Try and use some adjectives in your own sentences!
*Hint: Try and use a real experience from your life when you make a practice sentence.
For example, I just watched a movie called ‘Oblivion’ with Tom Cruise.
“The movie was very interesting. I was shocked by the ending!”
Thanks to Wikipedia for help with this post!
- 50 of the Most Common English Prepositions (Examples + PDF)
I put together a list of 50 of the most common English prepositions with definitions and natural example sentences. Prepositions can be difficult to learn,… Read more: 50 of the Most Common English Prepositions (Examples + PDF) - Transitive and Intransitive Verbs (Free 21-page PDF + Video)
I have been teaching English as a second language since 2006 and I get asked great questions. Questions like: What’s the difference between transitive and… Read more: Transitive and Intransitive Verbs (Free 21-page PDF + Video) - Master the Simple Present Tense: #1 Guide to English Verbs *Free PDF
Some of my students and business clients in Japan have trouble using English verbs in the simple present tense. Using different verb tenses can be… Read more: Master the Simple Present Tense: #1 Guide to English Verbs *Free PDF - English Conversation – Making Suggestions (30 Examples + Video)
Being able to make suggestions in English is an important skill for good communication. Whether you’re having a friendly chat, working together on a project,… Read more: English Conversation – Making Suggestions (30 Examples + Video) - How to Use Fact and Opinion Adjectives (Free 20-page PDF)
We use adjectives to modify the nouns in our story. I’ll show you how to use Fact and Opinion Adjectives correctly in this post with… Read more: How to Use Fact and Opinion Adjectives (Free 20-page PDF)
Quiz answers
I’m a baker. My job is difficult but I enjoy it. I wake up at 4:00 am each morning and go to the bakery. Some people don’t think baking bread is very exciting but I like it. – Baking bread is an activity (a thing) so our adjective will end with _ing.
I’m never bored. – The subject in this sentence is I so we are talking about a person’s feeling. The adjective will end with _ed.
I usually drink coffee at work because around 5:30 I start to feel tired. – This adjective comes after the words I feel, so we know the adjective must end with _ed.
The store opens at 7:00 and our customers at that time are usually businessmen who want a coffee and a snack to eat on the way to work. I have met some very interesting people. – In this sentence, we are talking about people but NOT people’s feelings, their personality or characteristics. Characteristics are things so our adjective needs to end with _ing.
One of my customers is a movie director! I love his movies. I think they are amazing. – Movies are things so of course we will describe them with an _ing adjective.
