Participle Adjectives

Chris:	You know, the footage of the moon landing always fills me with pride.
Jessica:	Me too. On July 20th, 1969, an estimated 600 million people around the world watched on TV as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, stepped on the moon after their daring journey. It was a touching moment.
Chris:	I love the poetic phrase that Armstrong used when he first stepped on the moon: “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Jessica:	That was what Armstrong claimed to have said. On the transmission, you can only hear: “One small step for man…” There is no “a,” which alters the meaning drastically.
Chris:	Really? What do you mean, exactly?
Jessica:	If he had said “a man,” instead of just “man,” it would have been clear that he meant that his footstep was a symbol for humanity’s progress. Most thought that Armstrong simply made a mistake there, but he maintained to his death in 2012 that he did say it, but it was inaudible.
Chris:	Maybe the “a” was muffled by static?
Jessica:	That’s the controversy! A recent study with the most up-to-date sound equipment concluded, with a high degree of certainty, that Armstrong did not say the “a.” There simply wasn’t enough space in the transmission between the word “for” and the word “man.”
Chris:	I would be interested to know whether he came up with the phrase himself, or if NASA scripted it.
Jessica:	That’s an interesting question. Armstrong said he thought of it in the moment, but his brother has said that they discussed this moving line before the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.
Chris:	I always wondered because Armstrong and Aldrin left a plaque on the moon with a very similar inscription: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."
Jessica:	The sentiment and wording are very similar!
Chris:	Ultimately, the issue of the quote is kind of insignificant compared to the accomplishments of the space race, don’t you think? I am amazed at how fast the moon landing became a reality.
Jessica:	Remember, it was the Soviets who had originally blazed the trail for space exploration. One of the most shocking and frightening events we Americans have ever experienced was when the Russian satellite Sputnik orbited the earth in 1957.
Chris:	Yeah, that was a wake-up call! Americans thought that the Soviet Union was far behind technologically. Then Sputnik came, and in 1961, we were shocked again when Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth.
Jessica:	It led to a drastic reorganization of our priorities. After Sputnik, American wealth and resolve were focused on winning the space race. The moon had become the new frontier. The pursuit of this goal gave the US a technological advantage for decades to come.
Chris:	That change in thinking was reinforced by John F. Kennedy’s famous “moon speech” in 1962. He said: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.”
Jessica:	Nice Kennedy impression, Chris. Inspiring words from another American icon... Would you like to go to the moon some day?
Chris:	I may be a little “out there,” Jessica, but the only space exploration I’m interested in is right here on Earth… in a planetarium.

Participle Adjectives

Participial adjectives are a subset of adjectives. Like all adjectives, they are used to describe nouns. They can be identified by their endings, usually either –ed or –ing. Participial adjectives often have the opposite meaning of the adjective in the other participle verb.

I am so bored. I feel boredom. I am so boring. I am causing other people to feel boredom.

I. Present Participle Adjectives (Ending in -ing)

We usually use the present participle (ending in –ing) to talk about the person, thing, or situation which has caused the feeling. It is generally formed by taking the verb and adding –ing.

I read a very interesting book about language. The book caused the speaker to feel interest. Many people find insects frightening. Insects cause many people to be frightened. It was a shocking movie. The movie caused viewers to feel shock.

II. Past Participle Adjectives (Ending in -ed)

We usually use the present participle (ending in –ed) to express how the person feels. It is generally formed by taking the verb and adding –ed.

I am very interested in learning more about language. The speaker feels interest in language. Many people are frightened by insects. Many people feel frightened. I was shocked by the movie. The speaker felt shock after watching the movie.

Participle Adjectives

Choose the correct participle adjective in the blank.

Participle Adjectives

Type the correct participle adjective from the word bank in the boxes below.

Comforting | interesting | tempted | frightening | inspiring Inspired | satisfying | shocked | amazing | devastating