Would you rather be boring or bored? A lot of students have problems with this, but it’s not that difficult to get right. Look at the following picture:
The answers to the questions in the caption are: 1. C & A; 2. B & D.
As you can see, adjectives ending in -ing describe people/animals/things that produce a feeling. In this case, the man A produces boredom, while man D produces embarrassment. On the other hand, -ed describes what a person/animal/thing feels. In the picture, C and B feel boredom and embarrassment, respectively.
If you’re Spanish and you still have problems, remember that when in English we use -ed (to be bored), it can be translated as «estar aburrido«. However, if we use –ing (to be boring), we can translate it as «ser aburrido«.
So what are you, bored or boring? I hope neither! Follow KSE on Facebook and I’ll make sure you’re not bored!
For more info on -ed/ing adjectives click here or download a printer friendly version here.
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