A mouthful of English

In English we often use adjectives like bored and interested to say how we feel. A story, a situation, or another person can make us feel intrigued , embarrassed, or disappointed . We are often tired or stressed after a working week, and relaxed at the weekend. Surprised, depressed, amused, annoyed, and puzzled are other examples of –ed adjectives that express how people feel. They all come from verbs, and each of them has a relative – another adjective ending in – ing. The words in pairs like shocked/shocking and bored/boring look so similar because they come from the same verbs – shock and bore . Both confused and confusing come from confuse , although they have different meanings – which is confusing for some people. In such pairs, the –ing adjective describes what makes you feel in a certain way, while the –ed adjective describes how you feel. So, when something is interesting (it interests you), you are interested (you feel interested).

Many –ing adjectives are used to describe something – or someone – that makes us feel in a particular way. Bad weather, for example, can be depressing – if it depresses us. And work might sometimes be fascinating , but it’s often tiring as well. Different types of words can have the –ing ending in English: Learning to drive is exciting , but I’m spending all my savings on driving lessons. Adjectives are easy to recognise, because they often appear in front of nouns – an embarrassing situation, annoying habits – or after verbs like be or look : The book looked boring , but it was actually very amusing . As an adjective always describes something, it’s important to know what it refers to. In the following example, confusing and disappointing describe the object of the verb: I found his explanation confusing and disappointing . Finally, adjectives can often be modified by words like very , really , or too – which may also help identify them: He’s an amaz...