Essential ING/ED Adjective Patterns: Expressing Feelings and Descriptions

Understanding ING and ED Adjectives

ING and ED adjectives come from verbs but work as adjectives to describe feelings and things. The key difference is simple: ED adjectives describe how YOU feel (I am bored, excited, tired), while ING adjectives describe what CAUSES the feeling (The movie is boring, exciting, tiring). Think of it this way: if something is interesting, it makes you interested. If something is confusing, it makes you confused. This pattern works with emotions like surprise, excite, bore, interest, tire, amaze, frighten, and many more.

Pattern 1: I am + ED Adjective (Describing Your Feelings)

Use this pattern to talk about how you or someone else feels right now or felt in the past. The ED adjective shows the person experiencing the emotion.

Structure: Subject + BE + ED adjective (+ preposition + cause)

Examples:

I am interested in history.
She was surprised by the news.
We are tired after the long journey.
They were disappointed with the results.
He is excited about his new job.

Common contexts: Talking about reactions to events, describing emotional states, explaining how experiences affect you, sharing feelings about activities or situations.

Pattern 2: It is + ING Adjective (Describing What Causes Feelings)

Use this pattern to describe things, people, situations, or experiences that create feelings in others. The ING adjective describes the quality of the thing itself.

Structure: Subject (thing/situation) + BE + ING adjective

Examples:

This book is interesting.
The lecture was boring.
That movie is frightening.
The news is shocking.
His explanation was confusing.

Common contexts: Giving opinions about entertainment (movies, books, games), describing experiences (trips, classes, events), talking about work or studies, making recommendations.

Pattern 3: I find it + ING Adjective (Personal Opinions)

This pattern expresses your personal opinion or reaction to something. It’s slightly more formal than ‘It is…’ and emphasizes that this is YOUR view.

Structure: Subject + find + object + ING adjective

Examples:

I find this topic fascinating.
She finds math challenging.
We found the museum disappointing.
They find his jokes annoying.
Do you find English grammar confusing?

Common contexts: Expressing subjective opinions, discussing difficulty levels, sharing personal reactions, being polite about criticism (I find it a bit boring vs. It’s boring).

Pattern 4: It makes me + ED Adjective (Cause and Effect)

This pattern clearly shows what causes your feeling. It emphasizes the connection between the thing and your emotional response.

Structure: Subject (thing) + make + object (person) + ED adjective

Examples:

This music makes me relaxed.
The noise makes her annoyed.
His stories make us entertained.
That smell makes me disgusted.
The uncertainty makes them worried.

Common contexts: Explaining reactions to stimuli (sounds, smells, situations), describing effects of activities, talking about stress or relaxation, discussing what influences your mood.

Pattern 5: Getting + Adjective (Changes in Feelings)

Use ‘getting + adjective’ to show that a feeling is changing or increasing over time. This shows a process, not a fixed state.

Structure: Subject + BE + getting + adjective (ING or ED)

Examples:

I’m getting bored with this game.
The situation is getting more confusing.
She’s getting tired of waiting.
We’re getting excited about the trip.
The movie is getting more interesting.

Common contexts: Describing gradual changes, showing increasing or decreasing feelings, talking about ongoing situations, expressing impatience or growing enthusiasm.

Comparing the Patterns

All five patterns can describe the same situation from different angles:

Situation: A documentary about space

I am interested in this documentary. (your feeling)
This documentary is interesting. (quality of the documentary)
I find this documentary interesting. (your opinion)
This documentary makes me interested in space. (cause and effect)
I’m getting more interested as I watch. (changing feeling)

Choose the pattern based on what you want to emphasize: your feeling, the thing’s quality, your opinion, the cause-effect relationship, or a change over time.

Common Adjective Pairs

Here are frequently used ING/ED adjective pairs:

Positive feelings:

interested/interesting
excited/exciting
amazed/amazing
fascinated/fascinating
pleased/pleasing
satisfied/satisfying
relaxed/relaxing
entertained/entertaining

Negative feelings:

bored/boring
tired/tiring
annoyed/annoying
frustrated/frustrating
confused/confusing
disappointed/disappointing
frightened/frightening
worried/worrying

Neutral/Mixed:

surprised/surprising
shocked/shocking
challenged/challenging

Examples

I was amazed by the performance, it was truly amazing.

This shows both patterns in one sentence: ‘amazed’ describes the person’s feeling, while ‘amazing’ describes the quality of the performance.

She finds cooking relaxing because it makes her relaxed after a stressful day.

Demonstrates three patterns: ‘finds…relaxing’ (opinion pattern), ‘makes her relaxed’ (cause-effect), showing how cooking (relaxing) creates a feeling (relaxed).

The students are getting more interested because the teacher makes the lessons interesting.

Combines ‘getting + adjective’ (changing feeling) with ‘makes + ED adjective’ (cause) and ‘interesting’ (quality of lessons).

I’m bored with this boring movie. I find it disappointing.

Shows how the same situation can be described using different patterns: personal feeling (I’m bored), quality (boring movie), and opinion (I find it disappointing).

The news was shocking and it made everyone shocked.

Clear cause-effect relationship: the news has the quality of being shocking (ING), which creates the feeling of being shocked (ED) in people.

Are you interested in sports? I find them exciting, especially football.

Natural conversation using two patterns: asking about someone’s interest (ED) and expressing an opinion (find + ING).

He’s getting frustrated because the instructions are confusing.

Shows a gradual change in feeling (getting frustrated) with a clear cause (confusing instructions).

The children were excited about the trip because the zoo is always exciting.

Demonstrates why children feel a certain way (excited) by describing the quality of the place (exciting).

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Incorrect: I am boring in class.

✅ Correct: I am bored in class.

Explanation: Use ED adjectives for feelings. If you say ‘I am boring,’ you’re saying YOU make other people bored! Use ‘I am bored’ to say you feel bored.

❌ Incorrect: The movie was very interested.

✅ Correct: The movie was very interesting.

Explanation: Use ING adjectives to describe things that cause feelings. Movies, books, and activities are interesting, not interested.

❌ Incorrect: I find it bored.

✅ Correct: I find it boring.

Explanation: After ‘find it,’ use ING adjectives. You’re describing the quality of the thing, not your feeling.

❌ Incorrect: It makes me boring.

✅ Correct: It makes me bored.

Explanation: After ‘makes me,’ use ED adjectives. You’re describing how you feel as a result, not describing yourself as causing boredom.

❌ Incorrect: She is very interesting in art.

✅ Correct: She is very interested in art.

Explanation: When talking about someone’s interest or feelings, use ED adjectives. ‘Interesting’ describes the art, not the person’s feeling.

❌ Incorrect: The game is getting more excited.

✅ Correct: The game is getting more exciting.

Explanation: Use ING adjectives with ‘getting’ when describing how a situation or thing is changing. Use ED when describing how people feel.

❌ Incorrect: I am very exciting about the party.

✅ Correct: I am very excited about the party.

Explanation: People feel excited (ED), while events are exciting (ING). Don’t mix them up!

❌ Incorrect: The lesson was confused.

✅ Correct: The lesson was confusing.

Explanation: Lessons, explanations, and instructions are confusing (they cause confusion). People are confused (they experience confusion).

Tips for Success

Remember the simple rule: ED = how you FEEL, ING = what CAUSES the feeling. If you can replace the adjective with ‘causing [emotion],’ use ING.
Test your sentence by asking: Am I describing a person’s feeling or the thing that causes it? Person = ED, Thing = ING.
With ‘I find it,’ always use ING adjectives. This pattern describes your opinion about something’s quality.
After ‘makes me/him/her/us/them,’ always use ED adjectives because you’re describing the resulting feeling in a person.
Use ‘getting + adjective’ to show change over time. You can use both ING and ED here, but think about what’s changing: feelings (ED) or situations (ING).
Common prepositions: ‘interested IN,’ ‘excited ABOUT,’ ‘bored WITH,’ ‘tired OF,’ ‘surprised BY/AT,’ ‘disappointed WITH/BY.’
In conversation, ‘I find it…’ sounds more polite and less direct than ‘It is…’ when giving negative opinions.
Many advanced learners still make mistakes with these adjectives, so practice regularly and don’t feel discouraged!
Create memory pairs: if you learn ‘boring,’ immediately learn ‘bored.’ Think of real examples for both.
When writing, vary your patterns. Don’t just use ‘It is interesting’ repeatedly; try ‘I find it fascinating’ or ‘It makes me curious.’

Learning Path Notes

Key Concepts in This Series:

ING and ED adjective formation and usage
Five core patterns for expressing feelings and descriptions
Common adjective pairs for positive, negative, and neutral feelings
Prepositions used with ED adjectives
Gradual change expressions with getting

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