Of the three, only the middle one is a possibility. But even here, it sounds slightly awkward.

I think
most people would say simply:

That's very interesting.

OR:

It's very interesting.

OR:

I find that very interesting.

If you want to use interest as a verb, rather than interesting as anadjective, you would need
to say:

That interests me a lot.

That doesn't interest me very much.

-ing adjective or -ed adjective?

Remember: people might be interested in something and it is the thing itself that people
find interesting. Other adjectives describing emotions follow a similar pattern:
Compare the following:

His explanation was confusing. Most students were confusedby it.

I was disappointed not to get the promotion I deserved. Adisappointing day, yesterday.

I'm starting a new job and I'm quite excited about it. I think it will be quite exciting.

The news was shocking. We were shocked when we heard that everyone had drowned.

Everybody was surprised when Jenny came top of the class. It was really amazing!

It was a tiring day. I was dead tired after all that shopping.

Note that people can also be adjective -ing, if they awaken this emotion in others:
A:
B:
A:
B:

Frank is such a boring person, isn't he? I find his conversation really boring.
He may be boring, but at least he's not as annoying as Ben who sniffs all the time.
Paul's an amazing guy, isn't he? He amazes me. He can always see the funny side of things.
I'm quite amazed by all the things Paul gets up to, I must say!

disappointing
confusing
exciting /
/
/ confused
excited
disappointed

interested / disappointed / surprised / pleased + infinitive clause

shocking / surprising /
shocked surprised

tiring /
tired

Note that some of these adjectives are often followed by an infinitive clause:

amazing / annoying /
amazed
annoyed

boring /
bored

I shall be interested to hear about how you get on in Cairo.

We were most surprised to see Kevin and Henry holding hands at the bus stop.

I must say we were disappointed to learn that he had abandoned his job.

I shall be pleased / delighted to accompany you to the exhibition on Thursday.

Interested in / surprised by / pleased with / etc

Note that if you are using a prepositional structure with these adjectives, it will normally be
either with or by, sometimes both are possible. Interested, however, is usually followed by in.
Compare the following:

We were pleased / delighted with all the wedding presents we received.

We were surprised by his rudeness at the family gathering. Quite disgusting!

I was quite disappointed with / by the film. He's normally such an exciting director.

I would be interested in working in Britain if I could get a work permit.

Interest / surprise / please / etc as verbs

Note that the verb forms of these adjectives describe an emotional state, not an action, and are
thus rarely used with continuous tenses:

She wanted to please him, but disappointed him when he discovered that she had spent
so much money. (NOT: was disappointing him)

It surprises me to see you making so many basic errors in this game. (NOT: It is
surprising me)

The novel interested me because it seemed to reflect real life so accurately.

It amused me so much that I kept bursting out with laughter.

brusting

ere are some sample phrases and sentences showing how these adjectives are used and
correspond with the English present participle (sometimes called a gerund):

la pginas siguientes, the following pages

Fuimos a la ciudad durmiente. We went to the sleeping city.
el presidente saliente, the outgoing president (i.e., leaving office)
Se necesita agua para la poblacin creciente. Water is needed for a growing population.
una asombrante variedad, an amazing variety
Es un plan de estudios conduciente al ttulo. It is a curriculum leading to the degree.
El instrumento produce un sonido vibrante. The instrument produces a vibrating sound.
los espaoles pertenecientes al partido, the Spaniards belonging to the party
la poblacin comprante, the buying public
los datos determinantes, the determining data
These adjectival forms do not exist (or are not used) for many verbs, especially when some other
adjective form is available. Thus, for example,mentiente (from mentir) is not used to translate
"lying," but mentiroso is; a boring film is una pelcula aburrida, not una pelcula aburriente;
and afighting spirit is un espritu luchador, not un espritu luchante.

Cooking class, crying baby,

Adjectives and Verbs

There are two things to consider when contemplating the relationship between adjectives
and verbs. The first is that adjectives can come after the verb:
The rock star was crazy .
The cats tail is long .
I am furious with my business partner.
The cookies smell awesome !
That shirt looks great on you.
Note that these are forms of to be or sense verbs: to look, to seem, to appear, to taste, to
sound, to feel, to smell, etc. If these verbs are modifying the noun in front of them, an
adjective will always be required so the noun is properly modified.
The second thing to consider is verbs that turn into adjectives; these are calledparticiples.
Usually, the verb has -ing tacked onto the end of the root form, or its the past tense. The
adjective can be placed before the noun or after the verb.
The smiling baby is really cute .

Smiling is used as an adjective here, as is cute.

This is my new washing machine.
Washing is acting like an adjective for machine.
This is my broken washing machine.
This washing machine is broken .
Broken is an adjective which is modifying washing machine.
In the summer, frozen popsicles are refreshing.
The secretary handed the boss the translated document.
After washing all the teacups, she found a forgotten one in the living room.

-ed / -ing adjectives

Many English adjectives of emotion/feeling are formed from the -ed / -ing
forms of verbs:
Positive
verb

-ing

noun

-ed

You ____ me!

I'm _____!

How _____!

What _____!

amaze

amazed

amazing

amazement

amuse

amused

amusing

amusement

astound

astounded

astounding

astonishment

bewitch

bewitched

bewitching

bewitchment

captivate

captivated

captivating

a captivation

challenge

challenged

challenging

a challenge

charm

charmed

charming

charm

comfort

comforted

comforting

comfort

concern

concerned

concerning

concern

convince

convinced

convincing

conviction

encourage

encouraged

encouraging

encouragement

enchant

enchanted

enchanting

enchantment

energize

energized

energizing

energy

entertain

entertained

entertaining

entertainment

enthrall

enthralled

enthralling

enthrallment

excite

excited

exciting

excitement

exhaust

exhausted

exhausting

exhaustion

fascinate

fascinated

fascinating

fascination

flatter

flattered

flattering

flattery

fulfill

fulfilled

fulfilling

fulfillment

gratify

gratified

gratifying

gratification

gratify

gratified

gratifying

gratification

humiliate

humiliated

humiliating

humiliation

interest

interested

interesting

interest

intrigue

intrigued

intriguing

intrigue

move

moved

moving

please

pleased

pleasing (pleasant)

a pleasure

relax

relaxed

relaxing

relaxation

relieve

relieved

relieving

a relief

satisfy

satisfied

satisfying

satisfaction

soothe

soothed

soothing

surprise

surprised

surprising

a surprise

tempt

tempted

tempting

temptation

touch

touched

touching

thrill

thrilled

thrilling

a thrill

titilate

titilated

titilating

titilation

Negative
verb

-ed

-ing

noun

You ____ me!

I'm _____!

How _____!

What _____!

aggravate

aggravated

aggravating

aggravation

alarm

alarmed

alarming

alarm

annoy

annoyed

annoying

annoyance

bewilder

bewildered

bewildering

bewilderment

bore

bored

boring

boredom

confound

confounded

confounding

confuse

confused

confusing

confusion

depress

depressed

depressing

depression

devastate

devastated

devastating

devastation

disappoint

disappointed

disappointing

disappointment

discourage

discouraged

discouraging

discouragement

disgust

disgusted

disgusting

disgust

dishearten

disheartened

disheartening

disheartenment

dismay

dismayed

dismaying

dismay

displease

displeased

displeasing

displeasure

distress

distressed

distressing

distress

disturb

disturbed

disturbing

disturbance

embarrass

embarrassed

embarrassing

embarrassment

exasperate

exasperated

exasperating

exasperation

fatigue

fatigued

fatiguing

fatigue

frighten

frightened

frightening

fright

frustrate

frustrated

frustrating

frustration

horrify

horrified

horrifying

horror

insult

insulted

insulting

an insult

irritate

irritated

irritating

irritation

mortify

mortified

mortifying

mortification

mystify

mystified

mystifying

mystification

overwhelm

overwhelmed

overwhelming

overwhelmingness

perplex

perplexed

perplexing

perplexity

perturb

perturbed

perturbing

perturbation

puzzle

puzzled

puzzling

puzzlement

shock

shocked

shocking

a shock

sicken

sickened

sickening

sickness

terrify

terrified

terrifying

terror

threaten

threatened

threatening

a threat

tire

tired

tiring

tiredness

trouble

troubled

troubling

trouble

unnerve

unnerved

unnerving

unsettle

unsettled

unsettling

upset

upset

upsetting

vex

vexed (vext)

vexing

Smile
Tire
Interest

unsettledness

vexation

Excite

-ed' and '-ing' adjectives:

describing feelings and things
'My holiday was relaxing. I felt really relaxed.'
Few, but common, adjectives end in either -ed or -ing:
worried/worrying, interested/interesting, excited/exciting

'-ed' adjectives
Adjectives that end in -ed are used to describe how people feel:
'He was surprised to find that he had been upgraded to first class.'
'I was confused by the findings of the report.'
'She felt tired after working hard all day.'

'-ing' adjectives
Adjectives that end in -ing are used to describe things and situations. Compare these example sentences to
the ones above:
'Being upgraded to first class is surprising.'
The findings of this report are confusing.'
'Working hard all day is tiring.'

example table:

-ed and -ing adjectives tables

Feel '-ed'

describe '-ing'

annoyed

annoying

bored

boring

confused

confusing

depressed

depressing

excited

exciting

frustrated

frustrating

frightened

frightening

satisfied

satisfying

shocked

shocking

Watching

Adjective

Extreme Adjective

cold

freezing

hot

boiling

dirty

filthy

hungry

starving

Adjective

Extreme Adjective

scary

terrifying

Hot: Scalding, baking, scorching, blistering, sizzling

Loud: Earsplitting, blaring, blasting, deafening
Painful: Agonizing, hellish, torturous, excruciating, wrenching
Crowded: Suffocating,
Stinky: Putrid, reeking, nauseating(it makes you feel sick), rancid
Gross: Disgusting, nauseating, revolting, repulsive, "I almost puked/vomited"(--because of it)
Attractive: Gorgeous, sexy, hot, irresistible, mesmerizing, spellbinding
You can also use "ridiculously" or "incredibly" instead of "very" or "really", or to make your
extreme adjective even more exaggerated.
e.g. This soup is ridiculously hot.
He is incredibly moronic.

"Absolutely", "completely", and "entirely" can also be used for certain (extreme) adjectives.
e.g. I'm absolutely freezing. (I am completely frozen.)

I don't know what part of speech these words actually are, but I'll list as many as I can
remember for you.
Each word has the same definition, for the most part.
I'll group together words that can be used in the same way. The words on this list are used for
EXAGGERATION.

ADJECTIVES

Participial Adjectives

PAGE 6/7

We saw in an earlier section that many adjectives can be identified by their

endings. Another major subclass of adjectives can also be formally distinguished
by endings, this time by -ed or -ing endings:

-edform

computerized, determined, excited, misunderstood,

renowned, self-centred, talented, unknown

annoying, exasperating, frightening, gratifying, misleading,

ingform thrilling, time-consuming, worrying

Remember that some -ed forms, such as misunderstood and

unknown, do not end in -ed at all. This is simply a cover term for this
form. Adjectives with -ed or -ing endings are known as PARTICIPIAL
ADJECTIVES, because they have the same endings as verb
participles (he was training for the Olympics, he had trained for the
Olympics). In some cases there is a verb which corresponds to
these adjectives (to annoy, to computerize, to excite, etc), while in
others there is no corresponding verb (*to renown, *to self-centre,
*to talent). Like other adjectives, participial adjectives can usually be
modified byvery, extremely, or less (very determined, extremely selfcentred,less frightening, etc). They can also take more and most to
form comparatives and superlatives (annoying, more annoying, most
annoying). Finally, most participial adjectives can be used both
attributively and predicatively:

Attributive

Predicative

That's an irritating noise

That noise is irritating

This is an exciting film

This film is exciting

He's a talented footballer

That footballer is talented

Many participial adjectives, which have no corresponding verb, are

formed by combining a noun with a participle:

alcohol-based chemicals
battle-hardened soldiers
drug-induced coma
energy-saving devices
fact-finding mission
purpose-built accommodation
These, too, can be used predicatively (the chemicals are alcohol-based, the
soldiers were battle-hardened, etc).

When participial adjectives are used predicatively, it may sometimes

be difficult to distinguish between adjectival and verbal uses:

[1] the workers are striking

In the absence of any further context, the grammatical status of strikingis
indeterminate here. The following expansions illustrate possible adjectival [1a] and
verbal [1b] readings of [1]:

[1a] the workers are very striking in their new uniforms

(=`impressive', `conspicuous')
[1b] the workers are striking outside the factory gates (=`on
strike')
Consider the following pair:

[2] the noise is annoying

[3] the noise is annoying the neighbours
In [2], we can modify annoying using very:

[2a] the noise is (very) annoying

But we cannot modify it in the same way in [3]:

[3a] *the noise is (very) annoying the neighbours

The acceptability of [2a] indicates that annoying is an adjective in this construction.
In [3], the verbal nature of annoying is indicated by the fact that we cannot
add very , as in [3a]. It is further indicated by the presence of the neighbours (the

direct object) after annoying. Notice also that we can turn [3] into a passive
sentence (the neighbours were annoyed by the noise). In this case, annoying is
the main verb of the sentence, and it is preceded by the progressive auxiliary
verb is. In [2], there is only one verb, the main verb is.

We can distinguish between the following pairs using the same

criteria:

Adjectival

Verbal

This film is terrifying

This film is terrifying the children

Your comments are alarming

Your comments are alarming the

people

The defendant's answers

were misleading

The defendant's answers were

misleading the jury

We can also identify -ing forms as verbal if it is possible to change

the-ing form into a non-progressive verb:

Progressive

Non-progressive

The children are dancing

The children dance

My eyes are stinging

My eyes sting

The wood is drying

The wood dries

Compare these changes from progressive to non-progressive with

the following:

the work is rewarding

~*the work rewards

the job was exacting

~*the job exacted

your paper was interesting

~*your paper interested

In these instances, the inability to produce fully acceptable nonprogressive sentences indicates adjectival use.
Similar indeterminacy occurs with -ed forms. Again, we can generally
use very to determine whether the -ed word is adjectival or verbal:

The bomb was detonated

~*The bomb was very detonated

This document is hand-written

~*This document is very hand-written

My house was built in only

twelve weeks

~*My house was very built in only

twelve weeks

Ten people were killed

~*Ten people were very killed

The inability to supply very in these cases indicates a verbal rather

than an adjectival construction. However, this test is less reliable
with -ed forms than it is with -ing forms, since very can sometimes
be supplied in both the adjectival and the verbal constructions:

Adjectival

Verbal

I was embarrassed
I was very embarrassed

I was embarrassed by your behavior

I was very embarrassed by your behavior

She was surprised

She was very surprised

She was surprised by my reaction

She was very surprised by my reaction

The presence of a by-agent phrase (by your behaviour, by my

reaction) indicates that the -ed form is verbal. Conversely, the
presence of a complement, such as a that-clause, indicates that it is

adjectival. Compare the following two constructions:

Adjectival:

The jury was convinced that the defendant was innocent

Verbal:

The jury was convinced by the lawyer's argument

Here are some further examples of adjectival constructions (with

complements) and verbal constructions (with by-agent phrases):

Adjectival

Verbal

I was delighted to meet you again

I was delighted by his

compliments

John is terrified of losing his job

John is terrified by his boss

I was frightened that I'd be late

I was frightened by your

expression

I was disappointed to hear your

decision

I was disappointed by your

decision

If the -ed form is verbal, we can change the passive construction in

which it occurs into an active one:

Passive:

I was delighted by his compliments

Active:

His compliments delighted me

For more on active and passive constructions, see...

As we have seen, discriminating between adjectival and verbal

constructions is sometimes facilitated by the presence of additional
context, such as by-agent phrases or adjective complements.
However, when none of these indicators is present, grammatical
indeterminacy remains. Consider the following examples from
conversational English:
And you know if you don't know the simple command how to get
out of something you're sunk [S1A-005-172]
But that's convenient because it's edged with wood isn't it [S1A007-97]
With -ed and -ing participial forms, there is no grammatical indeterminacy if there
is no corresponding verb. For example, in the job was time-consuming, and the
allegations were unfounded, the participial forms are adjectives.

Similarly, the problem does not arise if the main verb is not be. For
example, the participial forms in this book seems boring, and he
remained offended are all adjectives. Compare the following:

John was depressed

John felt depressed

I love the sound of falling rain...

as an adjective:
The main problem today is rising prices.
That programme was really boring.
He saw a woman lying on the floor.
Because the -ing noun or adjective is formed from a verb it can have any of the patterns which follow a verb, for
example:

... an object:
I like playing tennis.
I saw a dog chasing a cat.

... or an adverbial:
You can earn a lot of money by working hard.
There were several people waiting for the bus.

... or a clause:
I heard someone saying that.

amusing

interesting

worrying

shocking

disappointing

boring

surprising

exciting

terrifying

frightening

tiring

annoying

after a noun:
Who is that man standing over there?
The boy talking to Angela is her younger brother.

and especially after verbs like see, watch, hear, smell etc.
I heard someone playing the piano.
I can smell something burning.

her dying wish

an ailing friend
a falling star
the skidding vehicle

A sentence like He was entertaining is ambiguous out of context. Its meaning depends on
whether entertaining is treated as an adjective or as a verb. In He was very entertaining we
have an adjective--note the presence of the intensifier very--and in He was entertaining his
friends we have a verb--was entertaining is actually the full verb form taking a grammatical
object his friends."
(Ronald Wardhaugh, Understanding English Grammar: A Linguistic Approach, 2nd ed. WileyBlackwell, 2003)

"As an example of borderline cases in lexical word classes, take the classification of words
ending with -ing. Almost all of these words have a verb base, so it is easy to assume that all
words ending in -ing are verbs. However, this conclusion is not correct. In fact, these words can
belong to any of three different classes: verb (sometimes called the -ingparticiple), noun, or
adjective (sometimes called participial adjective). Normally, the following tests can be applied to
determine the word class:

o
o

Verbs ending in -ing can act as the main verb of a verb phrase, and may be
followed by a noun or an adjective . . .: e.g. is eating lunch; becoming misty overnight.
Nouns ending in -ing can sometimes have a plural form (e.g. paintings), and can
usually be a head noun after a, the, or some other determiner: e.g. [the banning of some
chemicals], [her dancing].

Adjectives ending in -ing can appear before a noun, and can also occur after verbs

such as be and become: e.g. the travelling public; it was (very) confusing. They are very
often gradable, and can be preceded by degree adverbs such as very,
so, and too: veryforgiving, so interesting, too boring.
But these criteria cannot always be applied."
(Douglas Biber at al., Longman Student Grammar of Spoken English. Pearson, 2002)
Verbals