Stress, stressed, stressful

    In one of my classes, we're studying a textbook about English and health awareness. Just recently we were looking at a chapter about stress. One point that came up was the relationship between words like STRESS (noun), STRESSED and STRESSFUL (both adjectives).

    The relationship between STRESSED and STRESSFUL reminded me of certain other pairs like INTERESTED / INTERESTING, SCARED / SCARY, TIRED / TIRING.

    With pairs like these, the -ed adjective describes how somebody feels about something:
    • I'm very interested in Italian art.
    • My brother has always been scared of cats.
    • I get tired if I've been studying for more than an hour.

    The second adjective, (often but not always an -ing adjective) refers to the thing that causes the feeling:
    • I find Italian art very interesting.
    • My brother thinks cats are scary.
    • Studying for more than an hour is very tiring.

    STRESSED belongs to the first group of adjectives, and STRESSFUL belongs to the second group:
    • Sometimes I get very stressed at work.
    • There are times when my job gets very stressful.

    For more information about adjectives like these, please see my archive lesson:
    That sounds boring / You must have been bored.

Exercise

    Fill the blanks in the following sentences with STRESS, STRESSED or STRESSFUL:
    1. My sister gets _______ very easily.
    2. The last 3 months have been a very _______ time for Mary.
    3. Go easy with George. He's been under a lot of _______ recently.
    4. Our new manager has just resigned. They reckon he couldn't take the _______.
    5. What do you think is the most _______ job in the world?
    6. I think her recent illness may be _______-related.
    7. She's been feeling terribly _______ since she started her new job.
    8. Bringing up children can be _______, but it can also be very rewarding.
    9. I don't think he's the best person for this job. He's very prone to _______.
    10. I hope George is going to be OK. He's really _______-out about his exams and he's finding it hard to concentrate.
    11. Some companies encourage their workers to take _______ management courses.

    Note:
    The sentences in the exercise contain a lot of useful phrases and collocations. Click here to check your answers and read some useful further comments.
    Please click on the link below if you want to try some of my other one-point lessons:
    Bob's One-Point Lesson Archive

    © Robert E. Jones, 2005