PARTICIPLES USED AS ADJECTIVES

Both present participles (ending in -ing) and past participles (either the third form of the irregular verbs or regular verbs ending in -ed) can be used as adjectives. But be careful not to confuse them. When we use these adjectives to describe how someone feels about something, the -ing adjectives describe the 'something' (e.g. a surprising decision) and the -ed adjectives describe the 'someone' (e.g. I was surprised).

e.g. I'm pleased with the result. It's a pleasing result.

The bored children started to get restless. The play was really boring.

Present participle adjectives, tiring, boring, interesting, are active and mean ‘having this effect’. Past participle adjectives, tired, bored, interested, are passive and mean ‘affected in this way’. In other words, someone is -ed if something (or someone) is -ing.

Or, if something is -ing, it makes you -ed.

e.g. Jane is bored because her job is boring.

Jane’s job is boring so Jane is bored.

Other pairs of participle adjectives are:

amusing amused exhausting exhausted

amazing amazed frightening frightened

annoying annoyed horrifying horrified

confusing confused shocking shocked

depressing depressed terrifying terrified

exciting excited worrying worried

Exercise 29. Complete the unfinished words in these sentences either with -ing or with -ed according to the meaning of the sentence.

1. I find these figures very disturb_____. 2. It is surpris_____ how many people cannot swim. 3. We showed them our holiday slides. They said nothing but I think they found them quite interest_____. 4. The children seemed to be thrill_____ with their presents. 5. He looked bor_____ but he assured me he was having a good time. 6. He had a satisf_____ expression on his face. He was obviously pleas_____ with himself. 7. I went to the sauna for a really relax_____ massage. Afterwards, I felt very relax_____. 8. I have never been so embarrass_____ in my life − I had forgotten my notes! 9. That is a very tir_____ job: no wonder you look so exhaust_____. 10. He kept us entertain_____ with excit_____ stories about his African adventures. 11. I find penguins the most fascinat_____ animals in the zoo. 12. Do you get many disappoint_____ customers, or are most people satisf _____ with your service?

Exercise 31. Put in the correct adjective choosing from the brackets.

1. Tony often goes bird-watching. He's ______ in birds. (interesting, interested) 2. I play chess regularly. I think it's a ______ game. (fascinating, fascinated) 3. I've really got no idea what I'm supposed to do next. I'm ______. (confusing, confused) 4. I was sure the car was going to crash. I was absolutely ______. (terrifying, terrified) 5. I don't like this town at all. It's a rather ______ place. (depressing, depressed) 6. When we heard we'd won a trip to Florida, you can imagine how ________ we were. (excited, exciting)

Exercise 32. Choose the correct form from the underlined ones.

There are some students who feel depressed / depressing by studying, especially subjects which they find confused / confusing. They often leave their work until the last minute, and then find the amount they have to do is simply exhausted / exhausting, or they are embarrassed / embarrassing to admit that they need help. They simply become more and more worried / worrying, and then work even less than before. Or they blame the school system, because the subjects they are studying are just not interested / interesting. However, you may be surprised / surprising to know that very few students feel this way, according to recent research. In fact, most

students don't find school work annoying / annoyed at all. They are usually excited / exciting by the subjects they are studying, and they feel satisfied / satisfying when they do something well.

Exercise 33. Complete the conversation.

A: That was an ____ film, wasn't it? (excit…)

B: Oh, do you think so? I'm ____ you liked it. (surpris…). I thought it was rather ____. (disappoint…).

A: Well, I was ____ once or twice. (puzzl…). I didn't understand the whole story. It was ____ in places. (confus…). But the end was good.

B: I was ____ most of the time. (bor…). I didn't find it a very ____ film. (interest…).

Exercise 34. Choose the correct form of the words in brackets

A. 1. Many students are (interesting / interested) in the Internet. 2. Nigel's classes are always (interesting / interested). 3. Don't bother to read that book. It's (boring, bored). 4. I'm (boring / bored). How about going to a movie? 5. Most children are (fascinating / fascinated) by animals. 6. Young children think that animals are (fascinating / fascinated). 7. I was very (embarrassing / embarrassed) by that question. 8. That was an (embarrassing / embarrassed) experience. 9. I read a (shocking / shocked) report yesterday. I was really (shocking / shocked). 10. The children went to a circus. For them, the circus was (exciting / excited). The (exciting / excited) children jumped up and down.

B. 1. I don't like horror films. I think they are (frightening / frightened) and (boring / bored). 2. Don't look so (surprising / surprised). Of course, it was a (surprising / surprised) decision but we had no other way out. 3. It was a (tiring / tired) journey. I wish I hadn't had it. I feel completely (exhausting / exhausted) after it. 4. The football match was (disappointing / disappointed). Our team lost the game and we left the stadium quite (disappointing / disappointed). 5. He can't remember his pupils' names. It seemed funny at first, but now it is rather (embarrassing / embarrassed). 6. So far as Mrs. Brown was concerned she did not seem to be in the least (embarrassing / embarrassed). 7. He did not come and she looked rather (worrying / worried). 8. The rise in crime is (depressing / depressed). 9. The pictures made a (depressing / depressed) impression on him. 10. She is not (satisfying / satisfied) with her position.

Exercise 35. Complete the conversation about a holiday.
1. The older people had a nice relaxing time. − Yes, lying on the beach is certainly nice and ______.

2. It was annoying losing that suitcase. − Yes, you must be really ______ about it.

3. That film we saw was amusing. − Laura was certainly ______. She couldn’t stop laughing.

4. The museum was interesting, I thought. − Yes, we had an ______ time there. There was a lot to see.

5. I was fascinated by those old photos of the town. − Yes, I thought they were ______ too.

6. The wind-surfing was a thrilling experience for the children. − Yes, they were certainly ______ to have a go.

7. I think I'll go to bed. I'm exhausted. − Looking after young children is an ______ job.

8. I was surprised at how good the weather was. − Yes, the amount of sunshine we had was __________.

9. I was tired after we climbed the mountain. − Yes, I think everyone felt ________.

Exercise 36. In this exercise you have to complete two sentences for each situation. Use an adjective ending in -ing or -ed to complete each sentence.
1. It's been raining all day. I hate this weather. (depress-)

a) This weather is ______. This weather makes me ______.

2. Astronomy is one of Tom's main interests. (interest-)

a) Tom is ______ in astronomy. b) He finds astronomy very ______.

3. I turned off the television in the middle of the programme. (bor-)

a) The programme was ______. b) I was ______.

4. Ann is going to America next month. She has never been there before. (excit-)

a) She is really ______ about going. b) It will be an ______ experience for her.

5. Diana teaches young children. It's a hard job. (exhaust-)

a) She often finds her job ______. b) At the end of the day's work she is often ______.

6. The film wasn't as good as we had expected. (disappoint-)
a) The film was _________. b) We were _________ with the film.

Exercise 41. Complete the following sentences by choosing a or b.

1. She is very interested. A. I think you should tell her more.

2. She is very interesting. B. I think you should listen to her more.

3. He is very boring. A. There are no other children to play with.

4. He is very bored. B. That’s why no one plays with him.

5. When you describe the thing or person which produces a A. –ed

feeling or an effect, the adjective ends in ___.

6. When you describe how someone or something feels or B. –ing

is affected, the adjective ends in ___.

Exercise 42. Rewrite the following sentences using –ed / -ing or other endings. Make the necessary changes.

1. The coincidence amazed us. We were amazed by the coincidence.

2. The journey tired us. The journey ______.

3. The experience upset Sylvia. Sylvia ______.

4. The experience upset us. The experience ______.

5. Gloria enchanted me. Gloria ______ .

6. I enchanted Gloria. Gloria ______ .

7. The children delighted us. The children ______.

8. The children delighted us. We ______.

9. The new building impresses us. The new building ______ .

10. The new building impresses everybody. Everybody ______ .

POSITION OF ADJECTIVES:

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 3296