bored vs.

boring
Most verbs which express emotions, such as to bore, may use either the present or the past participle
as an adjective, but the meaning of the participles is different. The -ing form expresses the cause of
the emotion, and the -ed form expresses the result.

Present participles (verb + ing) describe what something or somebody is.

Ted is an interesting person. (What kind of person? Interesting)

Past Participles (verb + ed) describe how someone feels

Mary is interested in English literature (How does she feel about English literature? Interested.)

Examples:

The movie was boring, so I was bored.

The movie was the cause of my emotion, so it is described with an -ing form. My emotion, the result,
is described with an -ed form. The following table summarizes this.

Active Sentence Describe Cause Describe Result

The movie bored me. The movie was boring. I was bored.

The lecture was

The lecture interested me. I was interested.
interesting.

The game excited me. The game was exciting. I was excited.

The news alarmed me. The news was alarming. I was alarmed.

The monster frightened The monster was

I was frightened.
me. frightening.

The comedian was

The comedian amused me. I was amused.
amusing.

We can see from the examples that the -ing form refers to the subject of the active sentence, and the
-ed form refers to the object of the active sentence. In the first example, boring refers to movie
(subject) and bored refers to me (object) in the active sentence.

We can also see that things can only be described with the -ing form because things cannot have
emotions. People, on the other hand, can be described with either -ing or -ed forms because they can
produce emotions in other people or experience emotions themselves.

Here is a table of the most common "emotive" verbs:

Verb Pres. Participle Past Participle

aggravate aggravating aggravated

alarm alarming alarmed

amaze amazing amazed

amuse amusing amused

annoy annoying annoyed

appall appalling appalled

astonish astonishing astonished

astound astounding astounded

bewilder bewildering bewildered

bore boring bored

calm calming calmed

captivate captivating captivated

challenge challenging challenged

charm charming charmed

comfort comforting comforted

compel compelling compelled

confuse confusing confused

convince convincing convinced

depress depressing depressed

devastate devastating devastating

disappoint disappointing disappointed

disgust disgusting disgusted

distract distracting distracted

distress distressing distressed

disturb disturbing disturbed

embarrass embarrassing embarrassed

enchant enchanting enchanted

encourage encouraging encouraged

entertain entertaining entertained

excite exciting excited

frighten frightening frightened

humiliate humiliating humiliated

infuriate infuriating infuriated

 inspire inspiring inspired

insult insulting insulted

interest interesting interested

intimidate intimidating intimidated

intrigue intriguing intrigued

mislead misleading misled

mystify mystifying mystified

overwhelm overwhelming overwhelmed

please pleasing pleased

puzzle puzzling puzzled

refresh refreshing refreshed

relax relaxing relaxed

reward rewarding rewarded

satisfy satisfying satisfied

shock shocking shocked

sicken sickening sickened

startle startling startled

surprise surprising surprised

tempt tempting tempted

terrify terrifying terrified

threaten threatening threatened

tire tiring tired

welcome welcoming welcomed

worry worrying worried

LINKS:
http://perso.wanadoo.es/autoenglish/gr.ad.inged.p.htm (intermediate)

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2255

http://ww2.college-em.qc.ca/prof/epritchard/boreding.htm

http://www.better-english.com/grammar/adjing.htm (Upper-intermediate)