Why did Shakespeare make up so many words?

Primarily by adding prefixes and suffixes to known words; this way, audiences would be able to generally comprehend what he was getting at, since they would be inherently familiar with both the root words and their additions.

Did Shakespeare actually make up words?

The English language owes a great debt to Shakespeare. He invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original.

Why does Shakespeare invert separate and omit words that make the arrangements of words in sentences seem out of order?

By utilizing inverted word orders, Shakespeare could effectively place the metrical stress wherever he needed it most—and English is heavily dependent on vocal inflection, which is not so easily translated into writing, to suggest emphasis and meaning.

For the most part, to the extent Shakespeare actually did make up words, he did not just make up new words out of whole cloth, so that the audience would not understand them. Instead, he mostly took existing words and made them into new words. For example, take the three words assassin, assassinate and assassination.

Why did Shakespeare invent strange words?

The reason is simple: to get people to stop what they are doing and pay attention to what you wrote. Strange words will do that. Particularly in headlines. Let’s look at five ways Shakespeare invented words that will help you invent your own words for your content.

Why did Shakespeare get away with such terrible spelling?

Shakespeare didn’t have “terrible spelling”. He had spelling suited to the time in which he was writing. He didn’t need to “get away” with anything. But in addition to that, his spelling wasn’t that bad even to our modern eyes, and I’ll show you.

How did Shakespeare create nonce words?

Shakespeare did not create nonce words. He took an entirely different approach. When he invented words, he did it by working with existing words and altering them in new ways. More specifically, he would create new words by: