English Help Online's Blog

Today I’d like to go over a problem that many people have: the difference between -ed and -ing words as “bored” and “boring”. In English, we use -ed words to talk about a person’s feeling about a situation, and we use -ing words to talk about the situation itself. For example:

I was bored when I watched that movie.

I thought the movie was boring.

I was really confused by the teacher’s lecture.

I don’t know much about chemistry, so the teacher’s lecture was really confusing for me.

I was so shocked when I heard the news about my uncle’s death.

My aunt told me some shocking news! My uncle died yesterday.

I’m so tired because I had many meetings today.

I had many meetings today and it was very tiring.

If you’re still not sure how to use these words, try to remember a simple rule: we use -ed when PEOPLE are the subject of the sentence, and we use -ing when SITUATIONS are the subject of the sentence. However, there is an exception to that. We can use -ing words when a person is the subject IF the person is causing the speaker to have that certain feeling. For example:

My math teacher is so boring. I hate going to his classes.

My friend Paul is a very interesting guy.

People who talk loudly on the train are so annoying!