King Reza: There is "tear"

I have a tear in my shirt.

I dont think there is a word opposite for torn only un-torn i think.
I hope that helps.

WatfordFC:When you have a tear in your shirt it is torn!  Is it not?
And every single reply helps.  Thank you.

King Reza: I would probable say "is not torn" - and would probable never say un-torn, if that helps.

BIG BAD WOLF:  Well, when you as a native speaker say you'd never say 'untorn,' and another says that she thinks 'untorn' is a word, how can I have any idea? 

King Reza:

untorn may technically be a word but it is in common usage

 yoyudax: untorn may technically be a word but it is in common usage

So why are using 'but' in that sentence?  I'd use 'but' if the sentence were : Untorn may technically be a word, but it's not in common usage.

King Reza: lol
you got me on my typo...I should have said isn't

yoyudax:

King Reza: whole, undamaged intact

King Reza: If it's not torn, then it's intact or whole.

Or are you referring to when a shirt was torn but it's not anymore? In that case it probably was mended.

In farsi, do you use the sentence "my shirt is not torn" often? I think it's one of those words that you only use for the positive - if it's torn you say it's torn; if not then it's probably something else but I don't hear people describing a shirt as not being torn very often - unless something is said about it you assume it's not :)

pauloaguia:Yeah, I did think of 'intact' myself, but wasn't sure if it'd be O.K..  To my non-native ears, whole isn't proper there, but I'm not sure.

No, we don't use that sentence very often.  The only situation I could think of that would make me use it i sthe following conversation:

A:  Hey, your shirt is torn!
B:  Torn? Naah!  It's not torn.  It's in fcat very much Untorn (If that's a word!)

*****************************

I was teaching my students some new adjectives and for each one I was introducing an opposite to them.  When  I came to 'torn,' I couldn't think of anything so thought I would like to ask the natives.

King Reza: How about this:

A: Hey, your shirt is torn!
B: Torn? Naah! It's not torn. In fact it's holeproof. :))

Pedro Martínez:

King Reza: yeah, whole doesn't sound all that good in the sentence you wrote...
Especially since a T-shirt that was torn, has a hole, but you may still have a whole t-shirt if no cloth got detached :)

King Reza: I'd not say inexpensive is the synonym of cheap. Even saying it's low priced is a better opposite. Something cheaply priced maybe, but to just say cheap is not how I'd say it.

Further research found this link:
http://www.synonym.com/synonym/inexpensive
Perhaps you're right about cheap and inexpensive. It just seems that where I live the word cheap is not used for some reason unless there's something wrong with what it is you're talking about. Perhaps this is just in my area and how advertisers and television can twist the meanings and usages of words.

By the way this link might help you find lots of opposites and alikes (antonyms)

Walter Montego:

expensive is the opposite of cheap
inexpensive is the same as cheap

Walter Montego:I think I have to disagree that 'inexpensive' is the opposite of 'cheap.'

However, you puzzled me with your post.  I know that the prefix in makes words negative, or changes them into their opposites.  Like : Appropriate ---> Inappropriate

But I also know that sometimes, it adds more to the quality of the word instead of changing it into its opposite word.  Like: valuabe ----> Invaluabe which means very much valuable, not cheap.

So I'm not sure which one of the above is true about 'inexpensive.'

King Reza: Inexpensive is less expensive, but it must get very confusing to a non native speaker, I am sure!

Why would someone say that you have a torn shirt if it was not really torn? "no, its not torn, it is ripped"? "No, it is not torn it is a shadow"? Something like that maybe, but you would not hear "no it is untorn, are you a blind idiot?"

Actually, now that I think of it, "Untorn" is NOT a word at all!!!!

Czuch Czuckers: I am afraid your wrong.


And there was something else. If anything is better than having a book to read, it is having a new book, which smells of new book, and whose pages have a special, pristine feel, with shiny cover, unworn and untorn.

WatfordFC: Yeah, and the contraction you are is you're, not your.

Unworn and untorn in one clear sentence. That's a good refutation if I ever saw one. :) Even better than the new car smell, eh?

Walter Montego: I know , its a bad habit of mine typing your instead of you're. I apologise

King Reza: You're right Reza. I typed the sentence incorrectly. I've fixed it.
Correct or incorrect? Opposites
Flammable or inflammable? Synonyms
Go figure. :)

King Reza: Inexpensive means "not expensive". Cheap also means "not expensive", but can also mean "of poor quality". When we describe a person as cheap, we mean "stingy, reluctant to spend money".

The prefix in- means "not" in words like inexpensive, inappropriate, inconceivable, etc. Sometimes this prefix undergoes assimilation, so we get words like immaterial, impossible, illogical, irresponsible.

Valuable and invaluable have similar meanings, not because the prefix in- somehow intensifies the word, but because they are based on two different uses of the verb to value. To value can mean "to regard as having value", as in a sentence like "I value this opportunity." If we say something is valuable, we mean that it is worth a lot. But to value can also mean "to assign a value to", as in a sentence like "The stolen merchandise was valued at $3000." If we say something is invaluable, we mean that it is so precious that it is impossible to assign a value to it.

There is also another prefix in-, which comes from the Latin preposition in, meaning "in" or "into". This occurs in words like inhale, inject, intense, implicit, and inflammable. Inflammable means "capable of being inflamed".

The Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for untorn. It's not a word you're likely to use every day, but don't let that prejudice you against it.

KotDB: Ahh, untorn, my spell checker does not recognize it as a word!

Czuch Czuckers: And your spell-checker is of course the ultimate arbiter of what you are permitted to say?

KotDB: I guesss not! That is obviously left up the the global moderators