This document analyzes participial adjectives ending in -ing and -ed using corpus data. It includes 4 tables:
Table 2 shows the top 20 most frequent -ing and -ed participial adjectives, with few matches between the lists.
Tables 3 and 4 compare the top 20 -ing adjectives to their -ed counterparts, finding few perfect pairs and many "single" forms.
The document concludes certain adjectives are more frequent in different registers like academia and speech. Not all can be taught with counterparts, and students should be aware of "single" forms.
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1. I Am Boring: A Corpus Study of
-ing and -ed Participial
Adjectives.
Natalia Reilly, Keith Folse
Copyright 息 Natalia Reilly, 2013
2. INTERESTING 43,798 速
WILLING 33,905
GROWING 30,641
FOLLOWING 30,144
LIVING 19,228
EXISTING 19,076
REMAINING 18,790
AMAZING 18,757 速
LEADING 17,894
INCREASING 16,884
DEVELOPING 15,360
SURPRISING 13,045 速
WORKING 12,786
ONGOING 12,389
EXCITING 12,129 速
RUNNING 10,674
CHANGING 10,264
MISSING 10,160
OVERWHELMING 8,925
CONTINUING 8,750
1. UNIDENTIFIED 46,063
2. CONCERNED 38,428
3. INVOLVED 37,596
4. SUPPOSED 35,630
5. INTERESTED 32,866 速
6. UNITED 29,096
7. MARRIED 25,459
8. USED 22,081
9. INCREASED 21,836
10.SURPRISED 21,554 速
11.LIMITED 21,246
12.TIRED 21,088
13.SO-CALLED 15,729
14.ARMED 14,474
15.BROKEN 13,996
16.LOST 13,778
17.ADVANCED 13,520
18.COMPLICATED13,135
19.UNKNOWN 12,961
20.SCARED 12,295
Table 2. Twenty the most frequent participial adjectives
(based on COCA)
THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
-ING PARTICIPIALADJECTIVES
(total 750,000)
THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
ED AND IRREGULAR PARTICIPIAL
ADJECTIVES (total 1,000,000)
3. What Table 2 Shows
Only 4 ing adjectives from the textbook (interesting,
amazing, surprising, exciting) are in the list, and only 2
ed adjectives (interested, surprised).
The other 34 adjectives are new for textbooks
including the noticeably frequent pair increasing-
increased.
Most of the ing/-ed adjectives in the list dont have
their counterparts. There are only 3 pairs (interesting-
interested, increasing-increased, surprising-surprised).
4. Table 3. Twenty the most frequent ing participial
adjectives with their ed counterparts
THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
-ING PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES
FREQ
THEIR ED PARTICIPIAL
ADJECTIVES
FREQ
1. INTERESTING 43,798 速 INTERESTED 32,866 速
2. WILLING 33,905 WILLED 296
3. GROWING 30,641 GROWN 743
4. FOLLOWING 30,144 FOLLOWED 5
5. LIVING 19,228 LIVED 3
6. EXISTING 19,076 EXISTED 0
7. REMAINING 18,790 REMAINED 3
8. AMAZING 18,757 速 AMAZED 2,324 速
9. LEADING 17,894 LED 11
10. INCREASING 16,884 INCREASED 21,836
11. DEVELOPING 15,360 DEVELOPED 6.003
12. SURPRISING 13,045 速 SURPRISED 21,554 速
13. WORKING 12,786 WORKED 161
14. ONGOING 12,389 ONGONE 0
15. EXCITING 12,129 速 EXCITED 10,084 速
16. RUNNING 10,674 RUN 6
17. CHANGING 10,264 CHANGED 1,374
18. MISSING 10,160 MISSED 1,267
19. OVERWHELMING 8,925 OVERWHELMED 909
20. CONTINUING 8,750 CONTINUED 10,366
5. Table 4. Twenty the most frequent ed with their ing
counterparts (based on COCA)
THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
-ED AND IRREGULAR PAST
PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES
FREQ
THEIR -ING COUNTERPARTS
FREQ
1. UNIDENTIFIED 46,063 UNIDENTIFYING 0
2. CONCERNED 38,428 CONCERNING 0
3. INVOLVED 37,596 INVOLVING 0
4. SUPPOSED 35,630 SUPPOSING 0
5. INTERESTED 32,866速 INTERESTING 速 43,798
6. UNITED 29,096 UNITING 181
7. MARRIED 25,459 MARRYING 56
8. USED 22,081 USING 5
9. INCREASED 21,836 INCREASING 16,884
10. SURPRISED 21 554速 SURPRISING速 13,045
11. LIMITED 21,246 LIMITING 1,902
12. TIRED 21,088 TIRING 646
13. SO-CALLED 15,729 SO-CALLING 0
14. ARMED 14,474 ARMING 20
15. BROKEN 13,996 BREAKING 2,009
16. LOST 13,778 LOSING 1,931
17. ADVANCED 13,520 ADVANCING 1,955
18. COMPLICATED 13,135 COMPLICATING 403
19. UNKNOWN 12,961 UNKNOWING 231
20. SCARED 12,295 SCARING 14
6. What Tables 3 & 4 Show
Not all participial adjectives can be taught with their
counterparts
Students should be aware of the existence of single
ing and ed participial adjectives
7. What Tables 57 Show
It is important to teach participial adjectives not only in a neutral
register (general list), but also in any special register that is of use to the
learner (for example,academic, spoken, newspapers, magazines,
fiction) (Biber & Reppen, 2002; Biber, Conrad & Reppen 1996,
Nesselhauf, 2003).
Among 40 the most frequent ing/-ed adjectives of general list, only 8
forms are present in all five registers: interesting, interested, willing,
growing, living, remaining, concerned, used (Table 5)
In comparison with the main list of 20+20 the most frequent participial
adjectives, in each special register several new the most frequent
participial adjectives have been found out.
For example, in academic register the new findings were 13 words:
emerging, nursing, resulting, corresponding, gifted, given, perceived,
detailed, written, shared, continued, selected, improved (Table 6);
in spoken English11 words: devastating, shocking, disturbing, coming,
worried, excited, alleged, convinced, pleased, hidden, balanced (Table 7).
8. . THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
-ING PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES
(total 750,000)
FREQ
THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
ED AND IRREGULAR PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES (total
1,000,000)
FREQ
INTERESTING 43,798 速
WILLING 33,905
GROWING 30,641
FOLLOWING 30,144
LIVING 19,228
EXISTING 19,076
REMAINING 18,790
AMAZING 18,757 速
LEADING 17,894
INCREASING 16,884
DEVELOPING 15,360
SURPRISING 13,045 速
WORKING 12,786
ONGOING 12,389
EXCITING 12,129 速
RUNNING 10,674
CHANGING 10,264
MISSING 10,160
OVERWHELMING 8,925
CONTINUING 8,750
1. UNIDENTIFIED 46,063
2. CONCERNED 38,428
3. INVOLVED 37,596
4. SUPPOSED 35,630
5. INTERESTED 32866速
6. UNITED 29,096
7. MARRIED 25,459
8. USED 22,081
9. INCREASED 21,836
10. SURPRISED 21554 速
11. LIMITED 21,246
12. TIRED 21,088
13. SO-CALLED 15,729
14. ARMED 14,474
15. BROKEN 13,996
16. LOST 13,778
17. ADVANCED 13,520
18. COMPLICATED 13,135
19. UNKNOWN 12,961
20. SCARED 12,295
Table 5. The highlighted items are presented
in all five registers (academic, spoken, newspapers,
magazines, and fiction)
9. The highlighted adjectives are specific for the academic register; they are not found in the general list.
Table 6. Twenty the most frequent participial adjectives
in academic English
THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
-ING PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES
(total 210,000)
FREQ
THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
ED AND IRREGULAR PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES (total
270,000)
FREQ
FOLLOWING 16,349
EXISTING 9,754
INCREASING 8,875
GROWING 8,821
DEVELOPING 8,532
INTERESTING 7,660
WILLING 6,049
ONGOING 5,499
LIVING 4,486
REMAINING 4,446
CHANGING 4,402
LEADING 4,176
WORKING 4,165
UNDERLYING 3,874
SURPRISING 3,837
EMERGING 3,679
CONTINUING 3,410
NURSING 2,784
RESULTING 2,642
CORRESPONDING 2,464
1. INCREASED 12,580
2. INVOLVED 11,339
3. LIMITED 9,835
4. GIFTED 8,740
5. CONCERNED 8,561
6. INTERESTED 6,935
7. RELATED 6,702
8. GIVEN 6,271
9. PERCEIVED 6,158
10. UNITED 5,753
11. ADVANCED 5,572
12. DETAILED 5,110
13. USED 4,967
14. WRITTEN 4,887
15. ARMED 4,864
16. SHARED 4,485
17. PROPOSED 4,411
18. SACRED 4,112
19. CONTINUED 4,035
20. SELECTED 3,984
10. The highlighted adjectives are specific for spoken English; they are not found in the general list.
Table 7. Twenty the most frequent participial adjectives
in spoken English
THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
-ING PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES
(total 130,000)
FREQ
THE TOP 20 MOST FREQUENT
ED AND IRREGULAR PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES (total
220,000)
FREQ
INTERESTING 19,983
WILLING 9,709
AMAZING 8,010
GROWING 3,829
EXCITING 3,164
MISSING 2,837
LEADING 2,759
FASCINATING 2,697
SURPRISING 2,403
WORKING 2,350
LIVING 2,307
OVERWHELMING 2,221
ONGOING 1,979
DEVASTATING 1,848
SHOCKING 1,778
CONTINUING 1,751
RUNNING 1,719
DISTURBING 1,664
COMING 1,657
REMAINING 1,453
1. UNIDENTIFIED 44,784
2. CONCERNED 12,702
3. INVOLVED 11,144
4. SUPPOSED 10,260
5. UNITED 8,381
6. INTERESTED 7,717
7. MARRIED 5,834
8. SURPRISED 5,212
9. SO-CALLED 4,427
10. SCARED 3,864
11. TIRED 3,618
12. USED 3,451
13. ARMED 3,389
14. WORRIED 3,136
15. COMPLICATED 3,115
16. EXCITED 2,875
17. ALLEGED 2,693
18. CONVINCED 2,261
19. PLEASED 2,184
20. HIDDEN 2,176
11. Collocations
Interesting and
interested are
derived from a
transitive verb &
imply different
meaning.
Collocations for
interesting and
interested are
different as well:
1)among 15 most
frequent collocations
for interesting and
15 most frequent
collocations for
interested only one
collocationthe
adverb particularly
is the same
Table 8. Collocations for Interesting, Neutral Register
FREQ ALL % MI
1 VERY 4484 481403 0.93 3.63
2 THING 1475 212182 0.70 3.20
3 QUESTION 880 145099 0.61 3.01
4 NOTE 804 44664 1.80 4.58
5 PARTICULARLY 372 57100 0.65 3.11
6 INTERESTING 284 43984 0.65 3.10
7 RAISES 160 10989 1.46 4.27
8 ASPECT 121 13684 0.88 3.55
9 EXCITING 116 12214 0.95 3.65
10 PHENOMENON 102 11276 0.90 3.58
11 TWIST 82 6921 1.18 3.97
12 CHALLENGING 74 10774 0.69 3.19
13 DYNAMIC 68 9760 0.70 3.21
14 WHATS 66 3701 1.78 4.56
15 INFORMATIVE 63 1576 4.00 5.73
15. Teaching Implications
The list of the top 20 most frequent ing/-ed participial
adjectives can be considered while teaching these forms
Not all participial adjectives can be taught with their
counterparts. Students should be aware of the existence of
single ing and ed participial adjectives
To contribute to understanding of ing/-ed participial adjectives,
the forms can be taught along with their collocations.
While teaching ing/-ed participial adjectives, registers
varieties of a language used for particular purposesshould be
considered.
16. References
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Reppen, R. (1994). Corpus-based approaches to issues in applied linguistics.
Applied Linguistics, 15(2), 169-189.
Biber, D., & Reppen, R. (2002). What does frequency have to do with grammar teaching? Studies in
Second Language Acquisition, 24(2), 199-208.
Folse, K. S. (2012). Keys to teaching grammar to English language learners: A practical handbook. Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Nesselhauf, N. (2003). The use of collocations by advanced learners of english and some implications
for teaching. Applied Linguistics, 24(2), 223-242.
Reppen, R., Gordon, D. (2012). Grammar and beyond. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Scovel, T. (1974). 'I am interesting in English'. English Language Teaching Journal, 28(4), 305-312.