Lesson Transcript

Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. In this lesson, I'm going to talk about the difference between adjectives that end in "ed" and adjectives that end in "ing." We'll talk about how to decide when to use these and when not to use these. We'll also do a short quiz at the end of the lesson to check your understanding. Let's get it started.
First, let's begin with adjectives that end in "ed." These are adjectives that we use to describe a feeling or an emotion in a person or we can also use these for animals. If you want to talk about your pets, you can use "ed adjectives" to talk about an emotion or a feeling you think they might be experiencing.
Let's look at some examples of "ed adjectives," some common ed ending adjectives. Here, "I'm so tired." "Tired" ends in "ed." "I'm tired." Another one, "He looks excited," ends in "ed." "The dog seems scared," ends in "ed." "Are you bored?" Here, we see the ed ending. Each of these example sentences includes an "ed adjective" because it's referring to someone's feeling or someone's emotion, or in this case, a dog's emotion. Here, I've included the word seems because, maybe, we can't completely understand an animal's emotion, but we can say something like "The dog seems scared," if you like. Make sure to use ed ending adjectives for feelings and for emotions.
Now, though, let's take a look at adjectives that end in "ing." "ing" ending adjectives. We use "ing" ending adjectives when we want to describe the characteristics or the features of something. "Our trip was exciting." Here, we're talking about the trip, travel, essentially. "Our trip was exciting." There's no emotion here. In the next example, "Work today was tiring." Tiring, so work is the item we're describing. These are the characteristics of work, tiring. Tiring is the characteristic. "I hope this lesson isn't boring." "I hope this lesson isn't boring." This ends in "ing," a characteristic of this lesson. "Children are exhausting." "Children are exhausting." This ends in an "ing" as well. This is one example where I think people might experience some confusion. Here, I've said "children are exhausting." Please note the sentence "children are exhausted" is a very different sentence from "children are exhausting." In this sentence, "children are exhausting," it means that to the speaker, if I'm the speaker, it means children make me feel exhausted. The children, maybe, have a lot of energy. It takes a lot of time and energy and effort to play with kids, to play with children. Their characteristics that's so exhausting, is a characteristic of them. Their characteristic is that they are exhausting. Maybe someone who is tired might say this, "children are exhausting." Then, I could say, "I feel exhausted." Please be careful. "The children are exhausted," and "children are exhausting," in this example, create very different sentences. The sentence, "the children are exhausted," means the children in the situation are tired. They feel exhausted. That's the children's emotion at that point in time. Please be careful of your choice in situations like this.
To recap, "ing" adjectives are used to describe the characteristics or the features of something or someone, as in this example. "ed" ending adjectives are used to describe our feelings or our emotions. We can also use them to talk about the feelings and emotions of animals.
Let's try to put this together in a quiz. I prepared a few examples and we'll choose the correct form of the adjective in the blank. First one, "the movie was excited or exciting." Here, we're talking about a movie. It's not a person. It's not an emotion. So, "exciting" is the correct answer. The movie was exciting is correct. Next one, "your brother looks--" We have "your brother looks tired" or "your brother tiring." Here, we're talking about the speakers' brother, your brother. We're imagining something about his feelings or his emotional state. So, we should use "tired." "Your brother looks tired," is correct here. Next one, "the news tonight is worried," or "the news tonight is worrying." Here, the focus is the news, some information. This is not a person's emotion or a person's feeling, so we should use "worrying." "The news tonight is worrying." It causes me to worry. Next one, "this book is so bored," or "this book is so boring." Here, again, the focus is on an object, "this book," in this case. So, we'll use "boring." "This book is so boring." Next one. There are two blanks here, so let's choose the correct form. We have, "Work today was something. I'm something." In the first sentence, the focus is work. "Work today was something." So, not a person, not a feeling, not an emotion. It's a characteristic. "Work today was exhausting." "Work today was exhausting." In the second one, however, "I'm." So, referring to a person's feelings. "I am." Here, we should use "exhausted." "Work today was exhausting. I'm exhausted." Finally, as we saw with this example about children, let's look at this sentence. "My boss is," I have the word "terrified," or "my boss is terrifying." Depending on your choice in this case, the meaning of the sentence will change significantly. "If we choose my boss is terrified," it means that's my boss's emotion. Terror refers to a strong fear, being very, very afraid of something. "My boss is terrified" means my boss is experiencing fear, a strong amount of fear, a strong degree of fear. "My boss is terrified." This is a negative situation about your boss's emotions. If, however, we say "My boss is terrifying," it means the boss, the characteristic of the boss, is that the boss, he or she, is scary, is a very, very scary person. The speaker feels terrified, perhaps. The boss causes that feeling of terror in the speaker. Please be careful. "My boss is terrified," and "My boss is terrifying," are both grammatically correct sentences but they have very different meanings. This is one example where it's very important to make the right choice between the "ed" ending adjectives and the "ing" ending adjectives. Both are okay. I hope you don't have a terrifying boss and I hope your boss isn't terrified. Just in case, this is one example to be cautious of.
That's a quick introduction to when and how to use "ed" adjectives and "ing" ending adjectives. If you have any questions or if you want to practice or make some example sentences, please feel free to do so in the comment section below this video. Thanks very much for watching this lesson. I will see you again soon. Bye, bye.

Comments

Hide