[Grammar] bored vs boring

I´m an English teacher in an elementary school in Mexico in which we teach English as a second language, I was sicjk so I didn´t make the last test, so I checked it and it said "Romantic movies are as bored as Western movies" I told my boss who is the coordinator it should be boring instead of bored, but she insists the test is right. Please help me, I know I am right

Hi and welcome to Using English.

You are absolutely correct. I can feel a sense of boredom. When something makes me bored, it is boring.

People (or animals) who can feel can be bored, tired, frightened or interested.

The things/people/situations that make us feel that way are boring, tiring, frightening, or interesting.

(The is just a partial list, of course.)



Ask your boss about "Horror movies are frightened" or "Class today was interested."

If she thinks these are okay, then you have found the problem. If your boss agrees that these are wrong then the parallel situation with the romantic movies being bored should be apparent.

A bores B - A is boring, B is bored
A interests B - A is interesting, B is interested
A disgusts B - A is disgusting, B is disgusted
A horrifies B - A is horrifying, B is horrified
A tempts B - A is tempting, B is tempted
A excites B - A is exciting, B is excited
A amuses B - A is amusing, B is amused

and so on, and so on, Participial adjectives are derived in this way from many emotive verbs. Check it out:

PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES

It may be helpful to consider the two forms bored/boring in the context of active and passive voice. With the statement 'I am bored', the complete sentence could be understood as 'I am bored by something'. That is, something is boring me; it is doing something.

e.g.

"Football is boring [me]."

"I am bored [by football]."

Something is boring because it is doing something.

Someone is bored because they are bored by something.

I hope this helps.

betty trejo said:

I´m an English teacher in an elementary school in Mexico in which we teach English as a second language, I was sicjk so I didn´t make the last test, so I checked it and it said "Romantic movies are as bored as Western movies" I told my boss who is the coordinator it should be boring instead of bored, but she insists the test is right. Please help me, I know I am right

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You should consider the possibility that the test is right, even if the sentence is wrong. Tests often contain incorrect sentences as choices.

I think the difficulty is more common in Spanish-speaking countries: aburrido can be either, depending on context.

b

BobK said:

I think the difficulty is more common in Spanish-speaking countries: aburrido can be either, depending on context.

b

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I hope this question isn't out of place on an English forum:
So when I say "aburriendo" for boring in Spanish am I being pedantic?

Robert70 said:

I hope this question isn't out of place on an English forum:
So when I say "aburriendo" for boring in Spanish am I being pedantic?

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I think most Spanish native speakers would call a 'boring film' aburrido. Anyone:?: Maybe it's a Castilian vs S. American Spanish thing - I really don't know.)

b