Participial Adjectives (-ed and -ing)

Many English adjectives come in pairs: bored/boring, excited/exciting, interested/interesting. These are called participial adjectives because they come from the past participle (-ed) and present participle (-ing) forms of verbs.

The rule for choosing between them is a single question: Feeling or Cause?

-ed → describes how a person (or animal) feels — they are experiencing an emotion -ing → describes the thing or person that causes the feeling

This lesson covers three applications of this rule:

1. The core -ed/-ing choice with the 20 most common pairs
2. Tricky cases: when -ing describes people, and adjectives before nouns
3. Collocations and advanced patterns: interested in, comparative/superlative, and more

Building on basics: This lesson assumes you know what adjectives are and how they work in sentences. If you need a refresher, see Adjectives Basics first.

20 Common Participial Adjective Pairs

This is your core reference for the most frequently used pairs:

-ed for Feelings, -ing for Causes

The Core Rule

When you choose between an -ed and an -ing adjective, identify who or what is the subject, then ask a simple question:

"Is the subject experiencing the emotion, or causing it?"

• Experiencing it → use -ed
• Causing it → use -ing

Contrast Examples

The Quick Test

If you are not sure which form to use, ask yourself:

"Can this thing feel bored / excited / confused?"

• A film, a book, a journey, a lecture — these cannot feel anything → they cause feelings → use -ing
• A person, a child, the audience — these can feel emotions → use -ed

👉 Practice -ed and -ing Adjectives (Basics) →

⭐ When -ing Describes People

This is the most common source of error with participial adjectives. The rule is simple — but learners often get it wrong.

-ing Can Describe People Too

When a person is the cause of a feeling in others, you use the -ing adjective to describe that person:

"She is boring" = She causes boredom in the people around her. "She is bored" = She herself feels boredom.

These are two completely different sentences with opposite meanings.

⚠️ The "I Am Boring" Trap

This is one of the most embarrassing errors in English. Pay close attention:

Rule: If YOU feel the emotion → always use -ed. Only use -ing when describing yourself as the cause of the emotion in others (which is unusual).

Participial Adjectives Before Nouns

The -ed/-ing rule works exactly the same when an adjective comes before a noun (attributive position):

Test for attributive position: Could you say "The documentary feels shocked"? No → use shocking. Could you say "The children feel excited"? Yes → use excited.

Extended Vocabulary for B1

These pairs from the exercises follow the same rule:

👉 Practice Tricky Participial Adjectives →

Collocations and Advanced Patterns

Preposition Collocations

Many -ed adjectives pair with a fixed preposition. Learn these as complete phrases:

Common mistake: "She is interested about cooking." ❌ → "She is interested in cooking." ✅

Comparative and Superlative Forms

Participial adjectives form comparatives and superlatives in the normal way:

Important: When describing a thing (book, film, event), always use the -ing form — even in comparisons:

• This novel is more interesting than the last one. ✅ (the novel causes interest)
• This novel is more interested than the last one. ❌ (books cannot feel interested)

The Impersonal "It is + -ing" Pattern

When the subject is impersonal it, always use the -ing form — because "it" refers to a situation that causes the feeling:

Rule: Impersonal it is never a person experiencing an emotion → always use -ing.

The "Find + Object + Adjective" Pattern

When you say what you think about something using find, use the adjective that describes the object (what causes the feeling):

• I find this book interesting. ✅ (the book causes interest in me)
• I find the film boring. ✅ (the film causes boredom)
• I find the ending surprising. ✅ (the ending causes surprise)
• I found the lecture confusing. ✅ (the lecture causes confusion)

The object of find is always the cause → use -ing in this pattern.

👉 Practice Collocations & Advanced Patterns →

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Quick Summary

3-Step Decision Process

Step 1: What is the subject — a person/animal, or a thing?

Step 2: Apply the rule:

• Thing (film, book, news, journey) → almost always -ing (things cause feelings, they don't have them)
• Person feeling an emotion → -ed
• Person causing an emotion in others → -ing

Step 3: If using an -ed adjective, check the preposition collocation:

• interested in / excited about / frustrated with / frightened of / astonished at

Decision at a Glance

Collocations Reference

Practice Tips

1. Learn pairs together, not separately. When you learn boring, immediately learn bored with it, and make one sentence for each: "The class was boring. I was bored." Paired sentences fix the contrast in memory more effectively than studying each word alone.
2. Use the "thing test" every time you are unsure. Ask: "Can this thing feel the emotion?" If no, use -ing. This one test covers the vast majority of cases correctly.
3. Memorise the collocation phrases as chunks. Don't just learn interested — learn interested in. Don't just learn excited — learn excited about. Say them aloud as fixed phrases until they feel automatic.
4. Practise -ing with people intentionally. This is the trickiest pattern. Write three sentences describing people you know: "My friend is entertaining / amusing / boring." Getting comfortable with -ing for people eliminates the most common advanced error.

Practice All Exercises

Ready to practise -ed and -ing adjectives in English? These ed and ing adjectives exercises — also called adjectives with -ed and -ing exercises or ed vs -ing exercises — come online with answers and detailed explanations for every question. Printable adjectives -ed and -ing exercises PDF worksheets are also available for offline practice. Work through all 3 sets of participial adjectives exercises covering adjectives ending in -ed and -ing from A2 to B1 — from the core feeling vs cause rule, through tricky -ing descriptions of people and attributive position, to collocations and advanced patterns:

Now try the exercises to practise what you've learned!