Frightened or frightening?
Which is the correct adjective?
Go to FREE language and grammar exercises with -ed and -ing forms HERE
There are a number of adjectives that are formed from the past participle or the present participle of a verb
Examples are:
Interested/interesting, bored/boring, excited/exciting, stimulated/stimulating
Why do we use one or another?
The adjective with ed tells us about how a person feels about something.
The adjective with ing describes the person or things that have caused that feeling:
- My Maths teacher, Mr. Jones, doesn’t like children and doesn’t like teaching. His classes are very boring and the students are bored when they are in his class.
- My children are very excited at the moment because we are all going skiing next weekend for the first time. They think that skiing must be a very exciting activity.
- Mr.Williams teaches History, he loves his subject and wants to transmit his feelings to his students. His classes are very interesting and stimulating, the students are never bored in his classes.
Remember that people can be boring but only if they cause other people to feel bored.
- She talks about her neighbours all day and everyday. She’s so boring.
- I was bored at the party, the music was bad and I knew nobody NOT I was very boring at the party so I went home.
LIST of English adjectives finishing in “ed” or “ing”
Remember the ing form of the adjective (exciting, boring etc) is not part of the Present Continuous verb form
For more information on how to form and use the Present Continuous. If you want to check out the meaning of English idioms and expressions this is the place to go