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Participial Adjectives 1  -ed / -ing

Cause vs. Receiver of an Emotion 

 

 

A participial adjective modifies a noun and may indicate:  

blue arrow right   source of feeling or emotion

blue arrow right2   receiver of feeling or emotion


 

 

PRESENT PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVE  -ING PAST PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVE -ED

 Cause or source (agent) of the feeling or emotion –  The present participle serves as an adjective formed from an active verb.

Receiver of the feeling or emotion – The past participle serves as an adjective formed from the passive form of the verb.

clown juggling

Monkey family watching

The clown was entertaining the family.  (active verb)

The family was entertained by the clown.  (passive verb)

The clown was entertaining(present participial adjective )

The family was entertained(past participial adjective )

 

 

 

Other Participial Adjectives
CAUSE OF THE FEELING RECEIVER OF THE FEELING

alarming

frustrating

alarmed

frustrated

amusing

humiliating

amused

humiliated

annoying

interesting

annoyed

interested

boring

intriguing

bored

intrigued

concerning

overwhelming

concerned

overwhelmed

confusing

perplexing

confused

perplexed

embarrassing

pleasing

embarrassed

pleased

encouraging

relaxing

encouraged

relaxed

energizing

satisfying

energized

satisfied

entertaining

shocking

entertained

shocked

exciting

surprising

excited

surprised

exhausting

terrifying

exhausted

terrified

frightening

tiring

frightened

tired

 

 

sheep on the road

 

 

 

 

Common Mistake
ERROR FIX

I was surprising to see sheep walking on the road.
Solution - lightbulb    Pop-Q 5/25/08 

I was surprised to see sheep walking on the road.

 

 

 

 

 

Participial Adjectives -ed / -ing

As Modifiers to Subjects 

 

 

Cause (Source) vs. Receiver
PRESENT PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVE  -ING PAST PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVE -ED

 Cause of the feeling or emotion –  The present participle serves as an adjective formed from an active verb.

 Receiver of the feeling or emotion – The past participle serves as an adjective formed from the passive form of the verb.

monkey child on an amusement ride     an amusing ride

 

The ride causes the amusement.

parent (monkeys) walking with monkey child    an amused child

 

The child receives the feeling of amusement.

Interesting people will will speak during the 2-day class.
(People cause others to feel interest.)

Interested people can sign up for the 2-day class.
(The people feel interest in the subject.)

Boring speakers put their attendees to sleep.
(The speaker causes others to be bored.)

Bored speakers should find something exciting to say.
(The speaker feels boredom while speaking!)

Amusing short films are shown at the animated film festival.
(The films cause the amusement.)

Amused viewers enjoy the short films.
(The viewers feel the amusement.)

Overwhelming amounts of work are given to University students.
(The amount of work causes the overwhelming.)

Overwhelmed students end up dropping a course or two .
(The students feel overwhelmed.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practice

Differentiating Source and Receiver

 

 

 

Decide whether the subject of each sentence is the source (cause of the feeling) or the receiver.
  1. Select the word from each menu that best completes the sentence. 
  2. Compare your response to the answer by clicking the "check" button to the right. 

 

# IMAGE YOUR RESPONSE CHECK ANSWER
1. woman in bubblebath    
2. man sleepwalking  
3. mouse and cheese  
4. man working late
5. man laughing
6. film
7. reporter on TV
8. man shaking boy  
9. nurse with needle   
 
10. embarrassed man  
11. an arrow in the but  
12. ringing  
13. news
14. King Kong  The children who were watching it were
15. massage
16. Phelps win   Michael Phelps' Olympic win was
17. monamoi  


intrigue = interest

 

18. Kirk hears a sound  
19. before and after picture  
20. satisfyingt  
     

 

 

 

 

 

Index  Grammar-Quizzes  | Previous Passive - "get"  |  Next  Participial Adj 2   (roasted vs. roasting)

 

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