Adjectives: -ed vs -ing
Feelings and the people, things, or situations that cause them
Many verbs have related adjectives ending in -ed and -ing. Use the -ed form when the adjective names a feeling or emotion: 'Elan was confused' and 'the students felt relaxed.' Use the -ing form when the adjective describes a characteristic that causes or can cause that feeling: 'The forest school sounded exciting' and 'the rules were confusing.' The subject alone does not choose the ending. A person can be frightening if that person causes fear. Choose the form from the meaning in the sentence: who or what experiences the feeling, and who or what has the feeling-causing characteristic?
Key terms
| Feeling (-ed) | Characteristic (-ing) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| bored | boring | The lesson was boring, so we felt bored. |
| interested | interesting | The exhibition was interesting, and the visitors were interested. |
| excited | exciting | The trip sounded exciting, and the class was excited. |
| confused | confusing | The rules were confusing, so I was confused. |
| relaxed | relaxing | The music was relaxing, and the listeners felt relaxed. |
Read the whole context to decide whether the adjective names a feeling or a feeling-causing characteristic.
| Feeling (-ed) | Characteristic (-ing) |
|---|---|
| surprised | surprising |
| frightened | frightening |
| annoyed | annoying |
| worried | worrying |
| terrified | terrifying |
| tired | tiring |
Each pair comes from a verb listed or exemplified in the lesson pages or Grammar Bank.
| Question to ask | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Who or what experiences the emotion? | -ed | The child was frightened. |
| Who or what has the characteristic that causes it? | -ing | The storyteller was frightening. |
| Are both roles stated? | -ing for the cause; -ed for the experiencer | The worrying news made us worried. |
A person can take either form when the meaning supports it.
- 1Step 1: In 'The rules made Leyla feel confused,' Leyla experiences the feeling.
- 2Step 2: Use the -ed form for that feeling: 'Leyla was confused.'
- 3Step 3: The rules cause the confusion, so use the -ing form for their characteristic: 'The rules were confusing.'
- 1Step 1: A person can cause a feeling: 'The storyteller frightened the children.'
- 2Step 2: Describe that effect with the -ing form: 'The storyteller was frightening.'
- 3Step 3: Describe the children's emotion with the -ed form: 'The children were frightened.'
Look for meaning clues such as 'felt,' 'made us feel,' 'caused,' or a stated reaction; the grammatical subject by itself does not determine the ending.
Do not use a blanket 'people take -ed, things take -ing' rule. People can have -ing characteristics: 'The speaker was inspiring' or 'The man was frightening.'
If you mean that you experience boredom, say 'I am bored.' 'I am boring' has a different grammatical meaning: you describe yourself as causing boredom.
Rules
- 1Use an -ed adjective to name the feeling or emotion experienced in the context: 'We felt relaxed.'
- 2Use an -ing adjective to describe a person, thing, or situation as causing or likely to cause the feeling: 'The fresh-air lesson was relaxing.'
- 3Choose from the intended meaning, not from whether the subject is a person or a thing; a person may be frightening, annoying, interesting, or inspiring when describing that person's effect on others.
- 4Keep the two roles clear in cause-and-feeling sentences: 'The rules were confusing, so I was confused.'
- 5In the printed pairs worry and terrify, the -ed forms change y to i (worried, terrified), while the -ing forms keep y (worrying, terrifying).
Practice
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