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GLOW: Grammar Lessons On the Web

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Participial Adjectives

We often make adjectives from present participles and past participles.

The frightened dog lay under the desk during the thunderstorm.	What time is it--my watch is broken.
Kelvin finds the staff meetings tiring.	Niagara Falls in the winter is the most amazing sight.

Present participle adjectives (ending with -ing) have an active meaning.
Past participle adjectives (ending with -ed) have a passive meaning.

The rock concert was boring.

Gail was bored at the concert.

In this example, the rock concert caused the boredom.
Gail received, or felt, the boredom.

The big black bear was horribly frightening.

I was too frightened to run.

I didn't do anything...I felt the fear.
The bear was scary...he caused the fear.

Here are some pairs of participial adjectives to watch out for:

amazing amazed	exciting excited
boring bored	exhausting exhausted
baffling baffled	fascinating fascinated
compelling compelled	frightening frightened
confusing confused	invigorating invigorated
consuming consumed	moving moved
demoralizing demoralized	stirring stirred
disappointing disappointed	tiring tired
disturbing disturbed	troubling troubled
enriching enriched	upsetting upset
entertaining entertained