adjectives: -ed and -ing

A lot of adjectives are made from verbs by adding -ing or -ed:

-ing adjectives:

The commonest -ing adjectives are:
amusingshockingsurprisingfrightening
interestingdisappointingexcitingtiring
worryingboringterrifyingannoying

If you call something interesting you mean it interests you.
If you call something frightening you mean it frightens you.
I read a very interesting article in the newspaper today.
That Dracula film was absolutely terrifying.

-ed adjectives:

The commonest –ed adjectives are:
annoyedboredfrightenedworried
tiredclosed       exciteddelighted
disappointed
  
If something annoys you, you can say you feel annoyed. If something interests you, you can say you are interested.
The children had nothing to do. They were bored.
We use adjectives to describe nouns.
Most adjectives can be used in front of a noun…:
They have a beautiful house.
We saw a very exciting film last night.
or after a link verb like belook or feel:
Their house is beautiful.
That film looks interesting.
We use the reciprocal pronouns each other and one another when two or more people do the same thing. Traditionally, each other refers to two people and one another refers to more than two people, but this distinction is disappearing in modern English.
  • Peter and Mary helped one another.
    Peter helped Mary and Mary helped Peter.
  • We sent each other Christmas cards.
    We sent them a Christmas card and they sent us a Christmas card.
  • They didn’t look at one another.
    He didn't look at her and she didn't look at him.
We also use the possessive forms each other’s and one another’s:
They helped to look after each other’s children.
We often stayed in one another’s houses.
NOTE: We do not use reciprocal pronouns as the subject of a clause.
We use whose to ask questions:
Pattern APattern B
Whose coat is this?orWhose is this coat?
Whose book is that?orWhose is that book?
Whose bags are those?orWhose are those bags?

possessives: pronouns

Can you match these possessive pronouns to the right personal pronouns and possessive adjectives?
yoursminetheirsourshershis, its

SubjectObjectPossessive adjectives
Possessive pronouns
Ime my
Youyou your
Hehim his
Sheher her
Itit its
Weus our
Theythem their

We can use a possessive pronoun instead of a noun phrase:

Is that John’s car?No, it’s [my car]>No, it’s mine.
Whose coat is this?Is it [your coat]?>Is it yours?
Her coat is grey, [my coat]is brownHer coat is grey,mine is brown.


We can use possessive pronouns after of.
We can say:
Susan is one of my friends.
or
Susan is a friend of mine.
but not
Susan is a friend of me
or
I am one of Susan's friends.
or
I am a friend of Susan's.
but not
I am a friend of Susan

possessives: adjectives

 
Can you match these possessive adjectives to the right personal pronouns?

its, your, my, their, our, her, his

SubjectObjectPossessive
Ime 
Youyou 
Hehim 
Sheher 
Itit 
Weus 
Theythem 

We use possessive adjectives:
• to show something belongs to somebody:
That’s our house.
My car is very old.
• for relations and friends:
My mother is a doctor.
How old is your sister?
• for parts of the body:
He’s broken his arm.
She’s washing her hair.
I need to clean my teeth.

possessives: nouns

We use a noun with ’s with a singular noun to show possession:
We are having a party at John’s house.
Michael drove his friend’s car.
We use s’ with a plural noun ending in -s:
This is my parents’ house.
Those are ladies’ shoes.
But we use ’s with other plural nouns:
These are men’s shoes.
Children’s clothes are very expensive.
We can use a possessive instead of a noun phrase to avoid repeating words:
Is that John’s car?No, it’s Mary’s [car].>No, it’s Mary’s.
Whose coat is this?It’s my wife’s [coat].>It’s my wife’s.

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