Adjectives ending in -ing and –ed and word order of adjectives and adverbs
-ing & -ed
There are many adjectives ending in -ing and -ed. For example, boring and bored.
Look at these comparisons of these adjectives ending -ing and -ed:
You can say:
It's boring. I'm bored with my job.
It's interesting. I'm not interested in my job any more.
My job is… tiring I'm always tired when I finish work.
It's not satisfying. I'm not satisfied with my job.
It's depressing. My job makes me depressed.
The -ing adjective tells you about the job. The -ed adjective tells you about how somebody
feels.
Compare these examples:
It was quite surprising that he passed Everybody was surprised that he passed
the examination. the examination.
Word order
Sometimes we use two or more adjectives together:
Adjectives like new / large / round / wooden are fact adjectives.
Adjectives like nice / beautiful are opinion adjectives.
Opinion adjectives usually go before fact adjectives.
A nice, long summer holiday
An interesting, young man
Delicious, hot vegetable soup
A beautiful, large, round, wooden table
Adjectives of size and length (big / small / tall / short / long etc.) usually go before adjectives of shape and width (round / fat / thin / slim / wide etc.): a large, round table
When there are two or more color adjectives, we use and:
a black and white dress
a red, white and green flag
BUT
a long black dress (not a long and black dress)
We say "the first two days", "the next few weeks", "the last ten minutes" etc.
I didn't enjoy the first two days of the course. (not the two first days)
They'll be away for the next few weeks. (not the few next weeks)
Adjectives and adverbs
Many adverbs are made from an adjective + -ly:
adjective: quick, serious, careful, quiet, heavy, bad
adverb: quickly, seriously, carefully, quietly, heavily, badly
Not all words ending in -ly are adverbs. Some adjectives end in-ly too, for example: friendly, lively, elderly, lonely, silly, lovely
Adjectives (quick / careful etc.) tell us about a noun. Adverbs (quickly / carefully etc.) tell us about a verb or an adjective.
Tom is a careful driver. (not a carefully Tom drove carefully along the narrow
driver) road. (not drove careful)
Good / well
Good is an adjective. The adverb is well:
Sally is a good pianist. But Sally plays the piano well.
We use well (not "good") with past participles:
well-dressed, well-known, well-educated, well-paid
But well is also an adjective with the meaning "in good health":
How are you today? – I'm very well, thanks. (not I'm very good)
Fast / hard / late
These words are both adjectives and adverbs:
adjective adverb
Angie is a hard worker. Angie works hard. (not works hardly)
Lately = recently
Have you seen Tim lately?
Hardly = very little, almost not
Nancy was rather unfriendly to me at the party. She hardly spoke to me.
Hard and hardly are completely different.
Compare:
He tried hard to find a job but he had no luck. (he tried a lot, with a lot of effort)
I'm not surprised he didn't find a job. He hardly tried to find one. (he tried very little)
The adverbs very and absolutely can be combined with adjectives to make them stronger. Very is used with gradable adjectives (such as: good, bad, funny, cold)
Absolutely is used with ungradable adjectives (such as: disgusting, fabulous, exhausted, freezing)