oxford_guide_to_english_grammar

24 ADJECTIVES PAGE 258
203 Amusing and amused, interesting and
interested
Compare the adjectives in ing and ed.
The show made us laugh. It was very amusing.
The audience laughed. They were very amused.
I talked to a very interesting man.
I was interested in what he was telling me.
I find these diagrams confusing.
I'm confused by these diagrams.
This weather is depressing, isn't it?
Don't you feel depressed when it rains?
Adjectives in ing express what something is like, the effect it has on us. For
example, a show can be amusing, interesting or boring. Adjectives in ed express
how we feel about something. For example, the audience can feel amused,
interested or bored.
Some pairs of adjectives like this are:
alarming/alarmed
exciting/excited
amusing/amused
fascinating/fascinated
annoying/annoyed
puzzling/puzzled
confusing/confused
relaxing/relaxed
depressing/depressed surprisingly/surprised
disappointing/disappointed tiring/tired
NOTE These words have the same form as active and passive participles. • 137
204 The + adjective
1 Social groups
a
b
We can use the + adjective to refer to some groups of people in society.
In the England of 1900 little was done to help the poor. (= poor people)
Who looks after the old and the sick? (= old people and sick people)
The poor means 'poor people in general'. It cannot refer to just one person or to a
small group. Here it means 'poor people in England in 1900'. The poor is more
impersonal than poor people.
The + adjective takes a plural verb.
The old are greatly respected.
Here are some examples of adjectives used in this way.
Social/Economic: the rich, the poor, the strong, the weak, the hungry,
the (under)privileged, the disadvantaged, the unemployed, the homeless
Physical/Health: the blind, the deaf, the sick, the disabled, the handicapped,
the living, the dead
Age: the young, the middle-aged, the elderly, the old