Master feeling adjectives and cause adjectives with structured practice, mixed review, discussion, and printable charts.
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Practice bored/boring, interested/interesting, excited/exciting, and other common pairs
Learn why people can be interesting, boring, annoying, frightening, or encouraging
Practise longer contexts, paired adjectives, and common prepositions after -ed forms
-ed and -ing adjectives often come from the same verb, but they describe different sides of a reaction. Use -ed adjectives for the person or animal that feels something. Use -ing adjectives for the thing, event, situation, or person that causes the feeling.
The student was bored.
The student feels the reaction.
The book was boring.
The book causes the reaction.
Ask who has the feeling. If a person feels uninterested, use bored. If something causes that feeling, use boring. This same test works for interested/interesting, excited/exciting, confused/confusing, surprised/surprising, and many other pairs.
| Feeling (-ed) | Cause (-ing) |
|---|---|
| I was bored during the film. | The film was boring. |
| She is interested in science. | Science is interesting. |
| The fans were excited. | The match was exciting. |
Yes. People can take -ing adjectives when they cause a reaction in other people. A guide can be interesting, a speaker can be boring, and a neighbour can be annoying. People take -ed adjectives when they receive the feeling.
The speaker caused the audience to feel interested.
The audience received the feeling.
"I am bored" means you feel uninterested. "I am boring" means you make other people feel uninterested. Both sentences are grammatical, but they do not mean the same thing. This is why the ending matters so much.
Wrong meaning
"I am boring in this class."=I make other people feel bored.
Intended meaning
"I am bored in this class."=I feel bored.
Many -ed adjectives are followed by common prepositions. These prepositions connect the feeling to its topic or cause: interested in a subject, excited about a trip, bored with a routine, frightened of spiders, disappointed with a result.
"She is interested in history."
"They are excited about the final."
"He is bored with the same routine."
"The child is frightened of the dark."
"I was disappointed with the result."
"We were satisfied with the answer."
The most common mistakes are using -ing for your own feeling, using -ed for a thing that causes a feeling, and following the false rule that people always take -ed. The real rule is meaning-based: receiver or cause.
Read the whole sentence before answering. Find the noun the adjective describes, then ask whether that noun feels the emotion or causes the emotion. If it feels the reaction, choose -ed. If it creates the reaction, choose -ing.
Major learner grammar references teach this contrast early because it appears in everyday descriptions of films, books, classes, travel, work, news, and personal reactions. British Council places the basic contrast at A1-A2, while broader participial adjective use continues into B1 and B2 work.
Grammar references and teaching resources used for this page:
Practise describing feelings and causes in conversation. Click a question to see useful structures and vocabulary.
Discussion questions are coming soon!
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