Such affixes are less productive than other affixes, which combine freely with most bases.
I'm curious what is meant by the term productive here. Is it simply referring to application of the word?
3 Matching Annotations
- Feb 2026
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udel.pressbooks.pub udel.pressbooks.pub
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udel.pressbooks.pub udel.pressbooks.pub
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For speakers of English today, changes like “mouse becomes mice when it’s plural” have to be memorized, and are therefore irregular.
This does make me wonder why some rules carry over and why some rules become abandoned. Why continue using irregular forms of words as a language evolves when that rule does not apply to others?
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udel.pressbooks.pub udel.pressbooks.pub
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For example, the root -whelmed, which occurs in overwhelmed and underwhelmed, can’t occur on its own as *whelmed.
This also reminds me of the word Automobile. Without the affix "Auto", "Mobile" can't work as its own word.
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