NRTC English: Irregularities and inconsistencies in word formation

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

English language is riddled with a lot of inconsistencies. The NRTC English for today highlights the inconsistencies that can arise in the English language, where certain prefixes or suffixes can have different meanings or nuances depending on the specific words they are combined with.

Usually, “less” is frequently added to root words to mean without, as in fearless, baseless, careless, meaningless etc, but this rule does not apply to “priceless” which means “valuable”.

Examples:

1. The man believes that children are a priceless asset.
2. The pastor told his congregation that everyone is priceless before God.

These examples illustrate the irregularities and inconsistencies in word formation, where different prefixes or suffixes are used to convey negation or opposite meanings in specific words.

ALSO READ NRTC English: The language of traffic

A word like ‘disgruntled’ combines combines the prefix “dis-” (indicating negation or reversal) with “gruntled” (meaning satisfied or content). However, “gruntled” is rarely used on its own, leading to the inconsistency that we don’t commonly say someone is “gruntled.”

It is also fascinating how “resign” means to voluntarily leave a position or job, while “re-sign” means to sign again. Although the prefix “re-” usually signifies repetition, in this case, it denotes a different meaning.

We also don’t bother to ask why ‘infamous’ is not the opposite of ‘famous’. ‘Infamous’ means well known for some bad quality or deed, as in “an infamous criminal”. The synonym of ‘infamous’ here is ‘notorious.’

ALSO READ NRTC English: ‘Bogus’ does not mean ‘big’ and ‘terrific’ does not mean ‘terrible’

We are all aware that “friend” refers to a person with whom one has a bond, while the opposite of forming “unfriend” would be expected to be “defriend” or “disfriend.” However, the common usage is “unfriend” to signify removing someone from a social network.

Again, ‘distrust’ as an antonym of ‘trust’ is commonly used as a synonym for “mistrust. “Trust” means having confidence or belief in someone, and ‘mistrust’ which is seldom used is the opposite, indicating a lack of trust.

Lastly, while ‘sight’ and ‘look’ mean the same thing used alone, combining a prefix with these words changes the meanings.

A good example is “oversight” which refers to the act of supervising or monitoring something, while “overlook” means to miss or fail to notice something. Despite their similar prefixes and root words, they have distinct meanings.

These examples showcase the irregularities and inconsistencies that can arise in the formation and usage of words, making the English language fascinating and sometimes puzzling.