Common Mistakes with English ADJECTIVES ed and ing endings
Hello! I’m Emma from mmmEnglish and in this
lesson we’re focusing on adjectives. But
not just any adjectives! Pairs of
adjectives that can end in either ED or
ING, because you might be a little
confused about when you can use each
type of adjective!
Lots of these english adjectives are
made by adding ED or ING to a verb. For
example, the verb ‘frustrate’ can become an
adjective by adding ED - ‘frustrated’ or ING
‘frustrating’. These endings are called
suffixes and when we add them to the end
of a verb they transform our verb into
an adjective. But you need to know how to
use each of these types of adjectives
and we’re going to do that right now,
right here in this lesson!
An adjective that ends in ING is used to describe the
characteristics of something the
characteristics of a person or a place
or a thing or a situation.
Adjectives that end in ED are used to describe an
emotion or a feeling and it’s usually a
temporary thing something that only
people can have generally, only people
have feelings, most of the time. But some
animals can also have feelings.
But you can’t use ED adjectives to describe the
feelings of a thing or of the situation
because they don’t have feelings! If you
say that something or someone is boring,
they or it makes you feel bored. So, the
thing or the person that is boring is
what makes you feel bored. It bores you
OK, there’s our verb! If you say that
something is exciting, it makes you feel excited.
Did you did you notice any patterns in those
examples? If you’re talking about a
temporary feeling or an emotion then use
the ED form of the adjective.
If you’re describing
the thing or the person that caused
those feelings, then use the ING form of
the verb. For example, that movie was strange!
Let’s look at the difference again.
He’s bored. So, he’s not
interested in what’s happening, he’s not
having a good time. If he’s at a party
perhaps he doesn’t like the music or he
doesn’t really know anyone and he’s got
no one to talk to. He’s bored. He feels bored.
But if you say he’s boring it
means he’s not an interesting person, that
you don’t enjoy talking to him. He’s
never got anything interesting to say.
He’s boring. He makes me feel bored.
Alright, it’s time to practice a little
now. I’m going to read out a few
sentences for you and I want you to try
to choose if the adjective in each
sentence is the correct adjective or not.
Ready?
What do you think?
It’s a “no”! Incorrect answer! I am very excited to see my sister.
It’s how I feel. I’m excited. I
feel excited to see my sister.
annoying I don’t understand these
Correct!
The instructions are annoying. They’re making
me feel annoyed.
I’m bored because i’ve got
nothing to do. I feel bored.
I felt so embarrassed! I felt embarrassed
when I spilt tomato sauce down my dress on a date!
I hate being the centre of attention! It was so embarrassing when
they called my name and I had to go up on stage!
It was embarrassing. The
experience was embarrassing. I felt embarrassed.
OK, I’ve made a worksheet for you so you can keep
practicing these adjectives after this
lesson finishes you can download it for
free right here! I want you to practice
using these adjectives when you’re
speaking when you’re writing and when
you’re listening to other people. Listen
to how they used. I’m also going to send
you the answers to the worksheet so that
you know what you got right what you
need to improve. I hope that you enjoyed
this lesson and if you are a subscriber
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really fun and easy way to practice your
English speaking skills. That’s all from
me today! I’m glad you joined me and I’ll
see you next time. Bye for now!