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Adjectives ending in -ed and -ing

 
 
 
 

Form

Participle (participial) adjectives
verb+ing
verb+ed
 

Participial adjectives ending in ed / ing

Some adjectives that end in -ed and -ing are examples of participle (or participial) adjectives. They are formed from the past participles and present participles of verbs.
 
interested / interesting (verb: to interest)
surprised / surprising (verb: to surprise)
tired / tiring (verb: to tire)
 
It is important to choose the correct one.
 
Note that not all -ed and -ing adjectives are participial adjectives. For example, there is an adjective talented, but there is no verb to talent and no adjective talenting.
 

Participle adjectives often describe feelings and their causes.

Adjectives ending-ed describe feelings;  adjectives ending -ing describe causes
 
She was tired after the long walk.
He was surprised when he saw his results.
These adjectives describe feelings.
 
The long walk was tiring.
His results were surprising.

These adjectives describe causes.
 
Verbs can express the same ideas
 
The long walk tired her.
His results surprised him.
 
We can see that in these examples, the people who experience the feelings are the objects of the verbs while the causes of the feelings are the subjects of the verbs.
More examples 
 
The movie bored me.
The movie was boring.
I was bored.
 
The noise frightened the horse.
The noise was frightening.
The horse was frightened.
 
The book fascinated her.
The book was fascinating.
She was fascinated.
 

Adjective pairs can describe ongoing and complete processes

Adjectives ending -ed or -ing can describe processes
 
We had fried eggs for breakfast.
This relates to a process which we can express with the verb to fry
Complete and ongoing processes
 
We drank melted snow when we were hiking in the mountains.
Verb: melt. The process is complete.
 
Floods caused by melting snow have been causing delays on the roads.
Verb: melt. The process is ongoing.
 
There was a delicious smell of frying bacon. Ongoing
We had fried rice for lunch. Complete
 
Irregular past participles are used with irregular verbs
 
Here's some breaking news. Ongoing
There's broken glass on the floor. Complete
 
Falling interest rates have boosted the stock market. Ongoing
A fallen tree was blocking the road. Complete
 

Adjective or verb?

Adjectives can be modified by adverbs such as very; verbs cannot.
 
I have been interested in travel all my life.
Travel has always interested me.
She has surprised everyone this term.
We have been surprised by the change in her behaviour.
The change in her behaviour has surprised everybody.
 
In some of these examples, the -ed form is an adjective, in others it is a verb.
With the adjectives, it is often possible to add the adverb very, but not with the verbs:
 
I have been very interested in travel all my life.
Travel has always interested me.
She has surprised everyone this term.
We have been very surprised by the change in her behaviour.
The change in her behaviour has surprised everybody.
 
ESL quizzes for adjectives ending in -ed and -ing
quiz


Comparison with <i>as</i>...</i>as...</as>