-ed vs -ing Participial Adjectives in Technical English
5 exercises — practise choosing between -ed (feeling) and -ing (cause) adjective forms.
0 / 13 completed
1 / 13
Which sentence correctly uses an -ed adjective to describe how the developers feel, and an -ing adjective to describe what causes that feeling?
"The developers were confused by the confusing error message" is correct: "-ed" adjectives describe the experiencer's state ("the developers were confused"), while "-ing" adjectives describe the source that causes that state ("the confusing error message"). Option A wrongly applies "-ed" to the message, which incorrectly implies the message itself is the one experiencing confusion rather than causing it. Option B applies "-ing" to the people, which incorrectly implies the developers are causing confusion in others rather than experiencing it themselves. Option D uses "-ing" for both, incorrectly describing the developers as the source of confusion instead of the ones affected by it.
2 / 13
Which sentence correctly describes a boring, unengaging technical presentation using the -ing form?
"The audience was bored...the presentation...was boring" is correct: the audience experiences the state ("bored"), while the presentation is the source causing that state ("boring"). Option A incorrectly applies "bored" to the presentation, implying the presentation itself feels bored, which doesn't make sense for an inanimate thing. Option B reverses both correctly-placed forms, describing the audience as the boring source and the presentation as somehow experiencing boredom. Option D also reverses the pattern from the correct answer.
3 / 13
Which sentence correctly uses -ed and -ing forms to describe a frustrating bug and the team's reaction to it?
"The team was frustrated by this frustrating intermittent bug" is correct: the team experiences the emotional state ("frustrated"), and the bug is the source causing that frustration ("frustrating"). Option A reverses both forms, incorrectly making the team the source and the bug the experiencer. Option C correctly describes the team but incorrectly applies "-ed" to the bug, implying the bug itself feels frustrated. Option D correctly describes the bug's causative role but incorrectly applies "-ing" to the team, implying they are the cause of frustration rather than the ones feeling it.
4 / 13
Which sentence correctly uses an -ing adjective to describe an exciting new framework and an -ed adjective for the developers who feel excitement about it?
"The developers were excited about this exciting new framework" is correct: the developers experience the emotional state ("excited"), and the framework is the source generating that excitement ("exciting"). Option B reverses both, describing the developers as the exciting source and the framework as somehow feeling excited. Option C correctly describes the developers but wrongly applies "-ed" to the framework. Option D correctly describes the framework but wrongly applies "-ing" to the developers.
5 / 13
Which sentence correctly uses -ed and -ing forms across two clauses describing a surprising outage and the on-call engineer's reaction?
"...engineer was surprised by the outage, which was surprising..." is correct: the engineer experiences the emotional state ("surprised"), while the outage is the source causing that surprise ("surprising"), and this -ed/-ing distinction is applied consistently and correctly to each noun. Option B incorrectly reverses the form for the engineer ("surprising") and also misapplies "-ed" to the outage. Option C correctly identifies the engineer's state but wrongly applies "-ed" to the outage instead of "-ing". Option D wrongly applies "-ing" to the engineer, treating them as the source of surprise rather than the one experiencing it, though it does correctly keep "-ing" for the outage.
6 / 13
Reviewer: 'The build failed due to a null pointer exception.' What's the best way to describe this issue in a code review comment using participial adjectives? Consider the impact of the error and how it's being handled.
This question focuses on describing an event (the null pointer exception) using the -ing form. The core issue is that the 'null pointer exception' *caused* the failure. Using 'occurred' or 'was triggered' implies a less direct causal relationship than 'caused'. The correct answer highlights the action of the error itself, reflecting how developers commonly discuss technical problems.
7 / 13
Reviewer: 'The build failed due to a null pointer exception.' What's the best way to describe this issue in a code review comment using participial adjectives? Consider the impact of the error and how it's being handled.
This question focuses on describing an event (the null pointer exception) using the -ing form. The core issue is that the 'null pointer exception' *caused* the failure. Using 'occurred' or 'was triggered' implies a less direct causal relationship than 'caused'. The correct answer highlights the action of the error itself, reflecting how developers commonly discuss technical problems.
8 / 13
Reviewer: 'The build failed due to a null pointer exception.' What's the best way to describe this issue in a code review comment using participial adjectives? Consider the impact of the error and how it's being handled.
This question focuses on describing an event (the null pointer exception) using the -ing form. The core issue is that the 'null pointer exception' *caused* the failure. Using 'occurred' or 'was triggered' implies a less direct causal relationship than 'caused'. The correct answer highlights the action of the error itself, reflecting how developers commonly discuss technical problems.
9 / 13
Alex reported: 'The API returned a 500 error after the deployment. It's been consistently failing.' Which sentence best describes this situation using participial adjectives to highlight the problem and its effect?
Here, 'failing' describes the ongoing problem – the deployment is *still* causing issues. Using 'failed' would imply the issue has already been resolved, which isn't stated. 'Failure' is too general; 'broken' doesn't accurately reflect a technical error like a 500 status code. The key is to use -ing for an ongoing process and -ed for the result.
10 / 13
Sarah wrote in Slack: 'I'm wrestling with this complex authentication flow. It's proving incredibly frustrating!' Which sentence uses participial adjectives most effectively to convey her experience?
The '-ing' form ('wrestling') accurately represents an ongoing action – she's *currently* experiencing frustration. 'was wrestling' implies a completed past action, and options 3 & 4 restructure the sentence awkwardly and don't clearly link the frustrating experience to the flow.
11 / 13
David's PR description reads: 'The new feature implementation caused significant performance degradation. Developers are struggling to adapt.' Which participial adjective best describes the *cause* of the problem?
'Implemented' correctly describes the action that led to the performance issue. 'Struggling' describes the *effect* on the developers, not the cause of the problem. Options 3 & 4 misplace the participial adjective – it needs to describe the action that triggered the degradation.
12 / 13
Maria said in a standup: 'We've been debugging this intermittent network connectivity issue for hours. It's proving to be incredibly time-consuming!' Which sentence best uses participial adjectives to describe the situation?
'Having debugged' accurately describes the ongoing action of debugging and its resulting effect – the issue *is* taking a significant amount of time. 'Debugging' is too general, while options 1 & 2 misplace the participial adjective, creating an unnatural sentence structure. The key is to show the result of the debugging.
13 / 13
Ben commented on a code review: 'The server crashed after the database update. Engineers are frantically troubleshooting.' Which sentence best utilizes participial adjectives to describe the situation?
'Crashing' accurately describes the ongoing effect of the database update – the server *is* actively failing. 'Troubleshooting' is a process and doesn't directly describe the immediate outcome. Options 2 & 3 misinterpret the cause-and-effect relationship; the crash resulted from the update, not the troubleshooting.
What will I practise in "-ed vs -ing Participial Adjectives — IT Grammar Exercise"?
Practise choosing between -ed adjectives (describing a state or feeling) and -ing adjectives (describing the cause of that feeling) when writing about bugs
How many exercises are in this module?
This module has 13 multiple-choice exercises, each with instant feedback and a full explanation of the correct answer.
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Every exercise is written by the CoderSlingo team, drawing on real workplace English used in IT roles, then reviewed for accuracy and clarity.