Difference between ‘interesting’ and ‘interested’ in English
On this page you will find the following:
“ Oscar is interested in the job the new company is offering.”
“ The two ladies were interested in buying a car.”
“Our new neighbour is an interesting person .”
“When we were in South America, we had an interesting trip through the jungle.”
“The film we saw yesterday was very interesting .”
The English words interesting and interested are both adjectives. Due to their similarity, English language learners may easily confuse them in a sentence. However, they have different meanings, which must be considered to avoid misunderstandings. Compare these differences in example sentences:
Other adjectives ending in ‘-ing’ and ‘-ed’
Following the rules above, many other adjectives that end in ‘-ed’ and ‘-ing’ exist and express emotions or states of mind. For further details, you may also read the corresponding section in the article on the usage of adjectives. For now, compare some of them in the following examples:
- ‘
boring
’ and ‘
bored
’:
-
“What a
boring
show.”
-
“My sister often feels
bored
in the evening.”
-
- ‘
embarrassing
’ and ‘
embarrassed
’:
-
“Your friend’s comment was
embarrassing
.”
-
“Paula was
embarrassed
when you asked her about her age.”
-
- ‘
exciting
’ and ‘
excited
’:
-
“My parents had an
exciting
experience in China.”
-
“My favourite band is coming to town. I’m so
excited
.”
-
- ‘
annoying
’ and ‘
annoyed
’:
-
“My new colleague is very
annoying
.”
-
“I think Melissa is really
annoyed
. She isn’t saying anything.”
-
- ‘
disappointing
’ and ‘
disappointed
’:
-
“The conversation with my boss was very
disappointing
.”
-
“I’m a bit
disappointed
that you didn’t invite me.”
-
- Also, consider some additional adjectives that function according to the same principle. They are used quite
often
:
-
confused/confusing
-
tired/tiring
-
amazed/amazing
-
exhausted/exhausting
-
shocked/shocking
-
terrified/terrifying
-
