ADJECTIVES ENDING IN '-ING' OR '-ED'

Adjectives ending in ‘-ing’ or ‘-ed’

• Many ‘-ing’ adjectives are used to describe the
effect that something has on your feelings, or
on the feelings of people in general.
• For e.g, if you talk about ‘a surprising number,
you mean that the number surprises you.
He lives in a charming house just outside of
town.
 She always has a welcoming smile.
Adjectives ending in ‘-ing’ or ‘-ed’
• some ‘-ing’ adjectives are used to describe
something that continues over a period of
time.
Britain is an ageing society.
 Increasing prices are making food very
expensive.
She looks alarmed about something.
 A bored teacher complained to his teacher.
She had big blue frightened eyes.
 Note: The past participles of irregular verbs do not end in ‘-ed’, but can be
used as adjectives.
The bird had a broken wing.
• Like other adjectives, ‘-ing’ and ‘-ed’ adjectives can be: used in front of a
noun
This is the most terrifying tale ever written.
He was thanked by the satisfied customer.
• after link verbs
 It’s amazing what they can do.
He felt satisfied with all the work.
• Many ‘-ed’ adjectives describe people’s
feelings.
• They have the same form as the past participle
of a transitive verb and have a passive
meaning.
• For e.g, ‘a frightened person’ is a person who
has been frightened by something.
• They can be modified by adverbials such as ‘quite’, ‘really’, and
‘very’
The film was quite boring.
 He was a very disappointed young man.
• They can be used in comparative and superlative
 His argument was more convincing than mine.
He became even more depressed after she died.
• A small number of ‘-ed’ adjectives are normally only used after
link verbs such as ‘be’, ‘become’, or ‘feel’. They are related to
transitive verbs, and are often followed by a prepositional
phrase, ‘to’-infinitive clause, or a ‘that’-clause.