Bored or Boring? -ED vs -ING Adjectives Explained (with Exercises)

“I’m so boring.” Have you ever said that when you meant “I’m so bored”? If you have, don’t worry. It’s one of the most common mistakes in English, and it changes the meaning completely. One means you have nothing to do. The other means people don’t enjoy spending time with you!

I taught this lesson live while cooking (with a bit of Spanish along the way), going through a set of exercise sentences together. Here’s everything you need, with the exercises at the end.

The rule

• -ING adjectives describe the thing or situation that causes a feeling: The film was boring.
• -ED adjectives describe how a person (or an animal) feels: I was bored.

So the film causes boredom, and I feel it. Here’s a quick way to remember it: -ing is the cause, -ed is the effect on you.

More pairs

• The news was surprising. / I was surprised.
• This music is relaxing. / I feel relaxed when I listen to it.
• The instructions were confusing. / I was confused.
• That noise is annoying. / I’m annoyed.
• What an exciting match! / I’m excited about the weekend.

The tricky cases

Can a person be -ING?

Yes! But then you’re describing the effect that person has on others.

• My teacher is interesting. = He makes people interested. ✅
• He’s boring. = People get bored with him. Ouch.
• I’m interested in history. = That’s how I feel. ✅

Terrified vs terrifying

In the live lesson we had: She doesn’t like heights and was terrified on the ski lift. She felt fear. The ski lift, for her, was terrifying.

Things don’t have feelings

One sentence was about the weather: The weather at this time of year is depressing. Some people chose depressed, but that would mean the weather itself feels sad, like a person! Unless you’re writing poetry, things and situations take -ing.

Onions and tomatoes

While cooking, I gave a real-life example. Cutting onions? The onion is irritating my eyes. And how do I feel? I’m irritated.

And since we’re in the kitchen, a pronunciation bonus: tomato is /təˈmɑːtəʊ/ in British English and /təˈmeɪtoʊ/ in American English.

Matches don’t get excited

Sentence 10 was about a football match: the most exciting match they’d seen for ages. People get excited. Animals get excited. Matches don’t. A match is exciting because of the effect it has on the people watching it. The same logic works for sentence 8: an article isn’t interested in anything. It’s interesting because it makes readers interested.

When the feeling is yours, but the subject is “it”

Sentence 11 catches lots of learners: I was late for the interview and then went to the wrong company. It was really embarrassing. The feeling is yours, but the subject is it, the situation. So we use -ing. If you change the subject to yourself, you switch to -ed: I was really embarrassed. Both sentences are correct, and they mean almost the same thing. Just check the subject before you choose.

A quick test you can always use

Ask yourself: “Is this word describing a feeling inside someone, or the thing that caused it?”

• Feeling inside → -ed: bored, tired, excited
• Cause → -ing: boring, tiring, exciting

Common -ED/-ING pairs to learn

• amazed / amazing
• bored / boring
• confused / confusing
• depressed / depressing
• embarrassed / embarrassing
• excited / exciting
• fascinated / fascinating
• interested / interesting
• relaxed / relaxing
• surprised / surprising
• terrified / terrifying
• tired / tiring

Pronunciation tip: the -ED ending

Remember that -ed has three pronunciations:

• /t/ after voiceless sounds: relaxed (/rɪˈlækst/), embarrassed (/ɪmˈbærəst/)
• /d/ after voiced sounds: bored, terrified
• /ɪd/ after t and d: excited, interested, frustrated

Don’t say relax-ed with an extra syllable!

Practice

Choose the correct adjective. These are the sentences we did in the live lesson.

1. We went to the cinema, but the film was really (bored / boring).
2. It was a really (tired / tiring) train journey from New York to Chicago.
3. She doesn’t like heights and was (terrified / terrifying) on the ski lift.
4. The weather at this time of year is (depressed / depressing).
5. It’s an (amazed / amazing) book. It’s all about a boat journey along the Amazon.
6. The results were very (surprised / surprising). We thought they’d be a lot worse.
7. I feel (relaxed / relaxing) when I listen to this music.
8. There’s an (interested / interesting) article about digital cameras in the newspaper today.
9. The directions he gave us were really (confused / confusing).
10. They said it was the most (excited / exciting) match they’d seen for ages.
11. I was late for the interview and then went to the wrong company. It was really (embarrassed / embarrassing).
12. The carnival was wonderful. I was completely (fascinated / fascinating) the whole time.

How did you do? If you got 12/12, you’re definitely not confused any more. This topic is fascinating when you think about it!

Watch the live lesson

In the video I go through each sentence, explain the common mistakes and answer questions from the chat. Watch it to hear the pronunciation of every adjective in context.

Subscribe for more grammar lessons in British English, and write your own -ed/-ing sentence in the comments.