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I was wondering if an AmE native speaker could let me know the semantic nuance between the two sentences caused by using similar verbs "obligate" and "oblige" in my self-made the examples below.
I’m obliged to do this.
I’m obligated to do this.
For me, they both mean the same thing, but perhaps they have some serious semantic differences. P.s. I've already read this thread, but I couldn't get much of it.
"Obliged" implies a certain degree of gratitude, or some small measure of indebtedness For example
I am obliged to you for your help
implies that I appreciate your help, and I might return the favor at some point in time, but nothing more. Meanwhile
I am obligated to you for your help
does imply a debt that ought to be repaid. As Peter points out, in some contexts an obligation includes legal and moral binding, whereas "obliged" is much more lax and relative to the individual.
Apparently in the past "obliged" was much more common, although examples of "obligated" from 200 years ago contain the same nuance as the word has today.
