How do you guys explain the difference between interesting/interested, boring/bored? I have a Thai friend who makes what seems a common mistake amongst Thais in that he confuses -ing words with -ed words. Can someone tell me how to explain the difference to him please?

I clicked this thread when I saw "Help" thinking that it would make interesting reading, but judging by the non-response from other members, it seems they are not interested in helping you. Why? Is it that they find this topic boring or are they all bored to hel_l with TV that they are not posting today being Saturday night too.

The difference is that 'interested' stems from a verb (an adverb), and 'interesting' is an adjective.

He was very interested to see the museum's display of fossils. (adverb qualifying he was).

He found the museum's display of fossils very interesting (adjective describing the museum's display).

Though I don't know if that is going to help trying to explain it to your friend.

This might help or just be more confusing > Learning English (BBC)

Been a long time since I taught English.

buea mai? <bored?> ..... Naa buea ... <boring>

buea mai? <bored?> ..... Naa buea ... <boring>

On those lines then > son-jai mai (are you interested) nah son-jai (interesting)

usually gets the distinction across the first time

The mistake he makes is that he says 'are you boring' rather than 'are you bored'? (Well, I think it' s a mistake )

Come across this many times. I try to convey that the "ed" form is a personal FEELING, like "happy," and the "ing" form is a DESCRIPTION of something else, like "English is difficult."

This one gets fossilised pretty early though (ingrained as a habit) and can be hard to change once someone's been using it awhile.

I often see my student's eyes go blank when I start talking about adverbs and adjectives . Although TEFL purists would be horrified by jdasia's response, sometimes a couple of Thai words can save minutes of pantomime and drawing!

Interested or bored is how I,you,he,she,it,we,they feel!

Interesting or boring is a description of my,your,his,her,it's,our, their character.

I often see my student's eyes go blank when I start talking about adverbs and adjectives . Although TEFL purists would be horrified by jdasia's response, sometimes a couple of Thai words can save minutes of pantomime and drawing!

Interested or bored is how I,you,he,she,it,we,they feel!

Interesting or boring is a description of my,your,his,her,it's,our, their character.

I think that the use of Thai when concept-checking is okay. It can clear up a lot of confusion.

In addition to the adjective/verb thing (the adjective is really a present tense participle, and 'bored' can be a passive perfect participle!), there's the difference between active and passive (this is not the gay forum ).

Active: this movie bores me; it's boring me; it's a boring movie.

Passive: I'm bored by this movie.

the 'ed' form is a feeling or how something affects you. I am bored. (although in some cases the sentence, I am boring. can apply)

The 'ing' form is a quality of something. The movie is boring.