Bored and boring follow a pattern that trips up learners across dozens of adjective pairs in English: -ed describes a feeling, -ing describes the cause.
Bored describes how a person feels, the emotion someone experiences.
bored full definition →
Boring describes the thing that causes that feeling.
boring full definition →
| bored | boring | |
|---|---|---|
| Describes | A person's feeling | The thing causing the feeling |
| Pattern | -ed adjectives: bored, tired, excited | -ing adjectives: boring, tiring, exciting |
| Simple test | "I am bored" describes how I feel | "It is boring" describes what caused that feeling |
People feel bored. Things are boring. This same -ed vs -ing pattern applies to tired/tiring, excited/exciting, and interested/interesting.
Save both words to GoVocab and review them until they stick.
Download on the App Store