Learning English with Alfiyah Blog

This page contains an audio clip of the usage of the present and past participles, along with its script. It is made available in an attempt not only to reduce our confusion of how to use those participles correctly but also to strengthen our listening skill. In order to achieve the latter purpose, at first, please listen to the audio clip and try to understand what it’s all about without reading the provided script. Later, you can replay the audio and compare what you hear to what I heard. And, as I said in other posts, my rusty ears might have misheard some (hopefully not many) words, so please don’t hesitate to correct them. Thank you, and have fun!

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Here are some films I find interesting. Do you think we’re interested in the same kinds of films? In this lesson, we’re going to talk about adjectives that end in –ing and –ed, like interesting and interested.

Students sometimes find it difficult to choose between adjectives that end in –ing and –ed. But, if you understand the difference between active and passive, you can easily choose the correct adjective. If you need an adjective to express an active meaning, then we choose –ing. If you need an adjective that expresses a passive meaning, then you choose an -ed ending. Let’s consider some other examples.

Here’s a movie called “The Illusionist”. I found the end of this film surprising. Why did I say surprising? Because there’s an active meaning here; The film did something to me. It surprised me. So, the end of the film was surprising.

Here’s another film,”Pulp Fiction”. I think some of you have probably seen this film. Now, some parts of this film were shocking. Why did I choose shocking? Because it did something to me. The film had an effect on me.

And here’s another film, “Speed”. This film was very exciting.

Now, let’s consider examples of adjectives with the – ed ending.

This is “Lord of the Rings”. The story is told in three parts and each part is very long. The story is very good but truthfully, by the end of each part, I feel very tired.

Why do I choose tired, an adjective with –ed ending? “Tired” expresses a passive meaning and emphasizing the effect that the movie had on me. How did I feel? I felt tired. So, something happened to me.

Similarly, how did I feel when I watched “Pirates of the Caribbean”? I felt a little disappointed. This story also has three parts. I found the first part of the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, very interesting but when I watched the second part, I was disappointed. Disappointed! Again, it’s a passive meaning and emphasizing the effect that the movie had on me.

Participles are verb forms. In English, there are present participles and past participles. Present participles end in –ing, as in, boring, exciting, surprising, disappointing, et cetera. Past participles end in –ed, unless they are formed from irregular verbs. Examples: bored, excited, written, forgotten, et cetera.

Participles can have different functions. They are formed from verbs, but they are not always part of the verb in a sentence. Consider these two examples.

Many people were crying by the end of the film.

Here, “crying” is a present participle and it’s part of the verb. “Were crying” is a verb in the past progressive.

Second example:

The parents took the crying child out of the theater.

Here, the same present participle is now an adjective. It’s modifying a noun. Crying describes the child.

Now consider these two examples:

The film had excited a lot of interest.

“Excited” here is part of the verb. “Had excited” is a verb in the past perfect.

Second example:

Excited moviegoers stood in line to buy tickets.

The same past participle is now an adjective. It’s modifying a noun. “Excited” describes moviegoers.

Now, these adjectives are called by different names. Participial adjectives or verbal adjectives are two common terms. When participles are used as adjectives, they express an active or passive meaning.

Let’s talk about present participles.

An adjective ending in –ing expresses an active meaning. It describes someone or something that does an action.

Examples:

The film is interesting.Johnny Depp is one of the most exciting actors.Some horror films are truly terrifying.

The adjectives in these three examples have an active meaning. Someone or something is performing an action. In the first example, the film interests people. The film is interesting. In the second example, Johnny Depp excites people, so we call him an exciting actor. And in the third example, horror films terrify people, so we can say they’re terrifying.

So, adjectives that end in –ing commonly describe a person or thing that can have an effect on others. This person or thing creates emotion, feeling in others. But that’s not always the case. Consider these next two examples.

The aging actor still had many fans.The increasing sales pleased the producers of the film.

Here, we still have adjectives that have an active meaning because someone or something is performing an action. But, we’re not talking about an effect on others. We’re not talking about creating feeling or emotion in others. The person or thing is performing an action but it’s more about an ongoing action, meaning the action continues over period of time. The actor is getting older so we call him an aging actor. The sales are getting bigger so we can describe the sales as increasing sales.

Now let’s talk about past participles.

An adjective ending in –ed expresses a passive meaning. It can describe someone or something that receives an action. It often describes a feeling or condition.

Examples:

I lost my friends in the crowded movie theater.

Here, the adjective crowded is describing movie theater. It’s describing the condition of the theater and it has that passive meaning. The movie theater is not doing anything. It’s not performing an action. In fact, people are coming into it. So, you could say it’s receiving an action. Something is being done to the theater.

And in the second example,

Subtitles are a written translation of the dialogue.

Translation is being described and translation is not performing any action. Something happened to the translation. Somebody wrote it. Somebody made it. So, we can describe it as a written translation.

And as I said, adjectives that end in –ed commonly describe someone’s feelings. So, look at these three examples.

I’m very interested in actors’ biographies.The actress seemed bored with life in Hollywood.The director felt satisfied with his work.

Here’s a note on word order.

Participial adjectives can be used like other adjectives. For example, we can use them before a noun, as in ‘the aging actor’. We can also use them after a linking verb.

For example:

Participial adjectives can be used with adverbs of degree or comparison.

Example:

I’m very interested in actors’ biographies.

Very is an adverb of degree.

Next example:

Johnny Depp is one of the most exciting actors.

So we can say more exciting, most exciting. When I say adverb of comparison I mean comparative and superlative forms.

Participial adjectives can also be followed by prepositional phrases.

For example:

The actress seemed bored with life in Hollywood

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