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-ing or -ed? Participles as Adjectives

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Time to brush up on (review) your understanding of participles as adjectives.

Some participles can be used as adjectives in either the present or past form.

Present Participle (-ing) is used to describe something or someone.
"I watched an interesting TV about American history last night."
"This film is boring. Let's stop watching it."

Past Participle (-ed) is used to describe how people feel about something or someone.
"I'm interested in American history."
"I'm bored of my job. I want to find another one."

Task 1: Now choose the right form for each sentence.
Task 2: Use these participles to write your own example sentences: excited / embarrassing /shocking / tired / surprised

Link: '-ed' and '-ing' adjectives: describing feelings and things

  • 1 - The people I work with are ____ with their jobs.



  • 2 - John was ____ by the the news report.



  • 3 - We thought that the instructions were ___ .



  • 4 - It's an ___ little story. You should read it.



  • 5 - Working late every day is ___ .



  • 6 - I'm not really ___ in sport.



  • 7 - Do you feel ___ about them?



  • 8 - All this information is making me ___.



  • 9 - I had a ___ weekend because of the rain.



  • 10 - Young children are often ___ of the dark.