Participial adjectives — the -ed and -ing forms used as adjectives — are one of the most common sources of persistent errors in English. I am boring and I am bored look similar but mean very different things. The -ing form describes the cause of a feeling or reaction: a boring lesson causes boredom. The -ed form describes the person or thing experiencing the feeling: a bored student is experiencing boredom. This cause/effect distinction is the key to the whole system, and once learners understand it, they can extend it systematically to the many pairs in this class.
Before you start — think honestly about your own teaching and experience.
Look at the examples. Answer each question before reading the explanation — this is how your students will learn too.
Both describe the same classroom situation. But they describe it from different perspectives. What is sentence A describing? What is sentence B describing? What is the relationship between boring and bored?
Sentence A (boring) describes the lesson — the lesson is the cause of the feeling. The lesson produces boredom in the students. Sentence B (bored) describes the students — the students are experiencing the feeling. The students have been affected by the boring lesson. This is the core distinction: -ing participial adjectives describe the cause or source of a feeling or effect. -ed participial adjectives describe the person or thing experiencing the feeling or effect. A boring lesson → a bored student. An interesting book → an interested reader. An exhausting day → an exhausted teacher. An exciting result → an excited student. The -ing form is active in a sense — it is doing the causing. The -ed form is passive — it is receiving the effect. Understanding this cause/effect relationship is more reliable than memorising pairs individually.
Now try these — which form goes in which position?
The students felt ______ (interest/interesting/interested) in the new topic.
The new topic was very ______ (interest/interesting/interested).
In the first sentence, the students felt ______ — the students are experiencing a feeling. The -ed form is needed: interested. In the second sentence, the new topic was ______ — the topic is the cause of the feeling. The -ing form is needed: interesting. This is the test to apply: is the thing described a cause of the feeling (use -ing) or is it experiencing/receiving the feeling (use -ed)? A thing or situation is almost always the cause — things are boring, interesting, tiring, confusing, exciting, alarming. A person is almost always the one experiencing the feeling — people are bored, interested, tired, confused, excited, alarmed. The most common error is describing oneself with the -ing form: I am boring = I cause boredom in others. I am bored = I am experiencing boredom. In most contexts, learners mean the second.
Sentence A (interested): the teacher is experiencing interest — -ed is correct. Sentence B (interesting): the teacher causes interest in others — -ing is correct. Interestingly, both A and B can be true about the same person, but they describe different things. Sentence C (boring): he is causing boredom in others — is this what is meant? Almost certainly not. Sentence D (bored): he is experiencing boredom — this is what is meant. C is technically grammatical (it means he was being boring) but is almost certainly an error. Sentence E (surprised): results are things, not people — results cannot experience surprise. -ing is needed. Sentence F (surprising) is correct — the results caused surprise in people. This shows the extra diagnostic for things: things are almost always the cause (-ing) and almost never the experiencer (-ed). Surprised results is almost always an error; surprising results is correct.'
| Tense / Form | Use / Meaning | Example | Key time words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form | Describes | Examples | |
| -ing participial adjective | The CAUSE of a feeling — the thing or situation producing the effect | a boring lesson / an interesting book / a tiring day / a confusing explanation | |
| -ed participial adjective | The EXPERIENCER of a feeling — the person receiving the effect | a bored student / an interested reader / a tired teacher / a confused learner | |
| Things and situations | Almost always -ing (they cause feelings) | The lesson is boring. / The results were surprising. / The news was shocking. | |
| People | Almost always -ed (they experience feelings) | The students are bored. / She was surprised. / He felt shocked. | |
| Common pairs | -ing → -ed | boring/bored, interesting/interested, tiring/tired, confusing/confused, exciting/excited, shocking/shocked, alarming/alarmed, satisfying/satisfied |
THE MOST IMPORTANT PAIRS TO KNOW
The following pairs are the most frequently used and most frequently confused: boring/bored, interesting/interested, exciting/excited, tiring/tired, confusing/confused, alarming/alarmed, satisfying/satisfied, surprising/surprised, shocking/shocked, disappointing/disappointed, frustrating/frustrated, exhausting/exhausted, overwhelming/overwhelmed, encouraging/encouraged, motivating/motivated. Teachers who know all of these pairs confidently and can produce them naturally are well equipped to handle the most common learner errors in this area.
TIRED: A SPECIAL CASE
Tired is an interesting case because it is used very commonly in its -ed form without always implying a specific cause. I am tired can mean I am experiencing tiredness (from a tiring day) but it can also just mean I feel tired — the cause may not be specified. Tired has become a general descriptive adjective. Similarly, worried, confused, excited, and interested are sometimes used without a specific external cause being implied. The -ed adjectives in this class have evolved to describe states as well as reactions, which is why they are so flexible.
NOT ALL -ED AND -ING ADJECTIVES ARE PARTICIPIAL PAIRS
Some -ed and -ing adjectives exist independently and are not paired: kind (no kindED form as adjective), moving (= touching/emotional — no movED adjective in this sense), striking (= remarkable), learned (= educated — not the past tense of learn), aged (= old). Learners should not assume every -ed adjective has an -ing partner and vice versa.
WHICH FORM — -ED OR -ING? - Is this thing/situation/event producing a feeling in someone? → -ing (boring, interesting, tiring) - Is this person experiencing a feeling? → -ed (bored, interested, tired) - Am I describing how I feel? → Almost certainly -ed. I am bored / interested / tired / confused. - Am I describing what the lesson/book/journey does to people? → -ing. The lesson is boring. The book is interesting. - Can things experience feelings? Almost never — so things are almost always -ing. - Does the person seem to be causing a reaction in others? → -ing. She is very interesting (she causes interest).
Choose the correct participial adjective (-ed or -ing) for each sentence.
Each sentence has an -ed/-ing error. Write the correct sentence and explain the mistake using the cause/effect distinction.
Use this sequence directly in class — guided discovery, no textbook needed. Tap each step to mark it done.
STEP 1 — THE CLASSROOM SCENARIO (6 minutes): Write on the board: The lesson was boring. / The students were bored. Ask: what is the lesson doing in sentence 1? What are the students experiencing in sentence 2? Establish the cause/effect relationship. Write the principle: -ing = cause / -ed = experience. Ask learners to translate this into their own words.
STEP 2 — THINGS VS PEOPLE (7 minutes): Ask: can a lesson be bored? Can a textbook be confused? Can a result be disappointed? Confirm: things and situations cannot experience feelings — they can only cause them. So things are almost always -ing. People can be either — but when they are experiencing a feeling, they are -ed. This diagnostic (thing or person? cause or experience?) is the most reliable test.
STEP 3 — I AM BORING VS I AM BORED (8 minutes): Write I am boring on the board. Ask: what does this actually mean? Confirm: it means I cause boredom in others. Then write I am bored. Ask: what does this mean? I am experiencing boredom. Which did the speaker probably intend? Drill the most common self-description errors: I am boring/bored, I am interesting/interested, I am exciting/excited, I am tiring/tired. Ask learners to use each correctly.
STEP 4 — PAIR PRACTICE (7 minutes): Give learners ten base verbs: bore, interest, tire, confuse, excite, alarm, satisfy, disappoint, frustrate, motivate. Ask them to produce the -ed and -ing adjective from each, and then give one sentence using each form. Go through and confirm correct use.
STEP 5 — PRODUCE AND CHECK (7 minutes): Ask learners to write five sentences — three describing how they feel about aspects of their teaching (using -ed) and two describing what their lessons or materials do to their students (using -ing). Share with a partner who identifies each participial adjective and confirms the form is correct.
Use directly in class — copy, adapt, or read aloud. No printing needed.
For each strategy, choose the option that best describes where you are now.
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