Агентство Лангуст [переход на главную]

Unit 23. Adjectives ending in ‘-ing’ or ‘-ed’
(прилагательные с окончаниями -ing или -ed)

Main points

1. You use many ‘-ing’ adjectives to describe the effect that something has on your feelings, or on the feelings of people in general. For example, if you talk about ‘a surprising number’, you mean that the number surprises you.

alarming
amazing
annoying
astonishing
boring
charming
confusing
convincing
depressing
disappointing
embarrassing
exciting
frightening
interesting
shocking
surprising
terrifying
tiring
welcoming
worrying

He lives in a charming house just outside the town.

She always has a warm welcoming smile.

Most ‘-ing’ adjectives have a related transitive verb. See Unit 72 for information on transitive verbs.

2. You use some ‘-ing’ adjectives to describe something that continues over a period of time.

ageing
booming
decreasing
dying
existing
increasing
living
remaining

Britain is an ageing society.

Increasing prices are making food very expensive.

These adjectives have related intransitive verbs. See Unit 72 for information on intransitive verbs.

3. Many ‘-ed’ adjectives describe people's feelings. They have the same form as the past participle of a transitive verb and have a passive meaning. For example, ‘a frightened person’ is a person who has been frightened by something.

alarmed
amused
astonished
bored
delighted
depressed
disappointed
excited
frightened
interested
satisfied
shocked
surprised
tired
troubled
worried

She looks alarmed about something.

A bored student complained to his teacher.

She had big blue frightened eyes.

Note that the past participles of irregular verbs do not end in ‘-ed’, but can be used as adjectives. See the Appendix for a list of irregular past participles.

The bird had a broken wing.

His coat was dirty and torn.

4. Like other adjectives, ‘-ing’ and ‘-ed’ adjectives can be:

5. A small number of ‘-ed‘ adjectives are normally only used after link verbs such as ‘be‘, ‘become‘, or ‘feel‘. They are related to transitive verbs, and are often followed by a prepositional phrase, a ‘to‘-infinitive clause, or a ‘that‘-clause.

convinced
delighted
finished
interested
involved
pleased
prepared
scared
thrilled
tired
touched
 worried

The Brazilians are pleased with the results.

He was always prepared to account for his actions.

She was scared that they would find her.

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