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Grammar Challenge

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2007

Catherine's Grammar Explanation: -ed & -ing adjectives

Catherine: Hi Deniz! Mark didn’t like the film. He used the words 'boring' and 'bored'.
We use -ing or 'ing' adjectives to give more information about things. So if we go to
see a really dull film, and nothing much happens, and the film even makes me feel
quite sleepy, I can say that the film was boring. I use an –ing adjective – boring
– to describe the film. Let's listen to Mark:

Mark: I watched that film on television last night. It was really boring. I was
just bored by it.

He uses the –ing adjective to describe the film.

Mark: It was really boring.

But if I want to talk about my feelings about the film – how the film affected me, I
use an –ed or 'ed' adjective – I was bored. Here's Mark again:

Mark: I was just bored by it.

He uses the –ed adjective to describe his feelings about the film.

Mark: I was just bored by it.

So it's –ing adjectives for other things, and –ed adjectives for my feelings. The film
was boring, and I was bored. Now there are only a certain number of adjectives that
work like this. The most common ones are:

Bored / boring

Excited / exciting

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Grammar Challenge
Interested / interesting
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2007
Embarrassed / embarrassing

Tired / tiring

Shocked / shocking

Annoyed / annoying

Frightened / frightening

And finally, worried / worrying

Ok Deniz, good luck with your grammar challenge!

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