Is She Interested or Interesting? - Kenneth | Learn English at EnglishCafe

Listen to this selection about Anna. The listening selection speaks about how Anna felt before an upcoming vacation. Notice the language she uses to discuss how she feels about things, and the impression work, colleagues and vacations make on her.  

The use of the '-ed' or '-ing' form of adjectives which have corresponding verbs is often confusing. The main difference between these two forms is that an adjective ending in '-ed' marks HOW you feel about something. Adjectives ending in '-ing' express the EFFECT something has on people. For example,  

These verbs are confusing. -> The verbs have the effect of confusing people.

I'm confused by these verbs. -> I feel confused about the verbs.

The listening selection uses one or the other form of all of the verbs listed below. Listen again, and try to identify the usage. If you have problems understanding, ask yourself the question: Did Anna feel this way, or did the thing/people have that effect on Anna? In the case that Anna felt that way, the '-ed' form is used. If something had an effect on her,  the '-ing' form is used to describe that thing or person/people.

Key Verbs / Adjectives Forms of Verbs

to excite - excited / exciting

to interest - interested / interesting

to intrigue - intrigued / intriguing

to engage - engaged / engaging

to surprise - surprised / surprising

to aggravate - aggravated / aggravating

to appear - appeared / appearing

to impress - impressed / impressive  

to dull - dulled / dulling

to stimulate - stimulated / stimulating

to amuse - amused / amusing

to inspire - inspired / inspiring

to rejuvenate - rejuvenated / rejuvenating

to dedicate - dedicated / dedicating

Listening Text

Anna felt excited about her vacation in Spain. She was sure that she was going to meet a number of interesting people. It always amazed her how it was so much easier to find intriguing people when she was relaxed. It seemed that vacations helped her become more engaged in the world around her when she was on vacation. At work, Anna was sometimes surprised at how boring certain tasks were. In fact, she couldn't stand a number of aggravating colleagues who appeared so impressed with their own wonderful skills.  

Anna knew this attitude was no good. However, she also was dulled by the everyday world around her. She needed stimulating situations, amusing people and, most of all, inspiring, fun-filled days to help her feel rejuvenated and ready to become dedicated to her career again.

Photo used under Creative Commons Licensing by austinevan