spelling of knife vs. knives

[MEGA TON]

I was pondering ( That's right pondering ) about this but why is the pural of kinfe spelled "K-N-I-V-E-S" instead of "K-N-I-F-E-S"?

[tucsoncoyote]

I was pondering ( That's right pondering ) about this but why is the pural of kinfe spelled "K-N-I-V-E-S" instead of "K-N-I-F-E-S"?

Here's where you can find your answer to this Pondering question...

Knife is what is known as 'an Irregular noun', in the english language, that when Pluralized, the word follows the Rule in List Number one (which you can find on the page), and thus words ending in 'f' or 'fe' are in fact spelled with an 'ves' on the end.

so words like Leaf, Loaf, Elf, Wife, and others also fall under this same rule.
So
Leaf (Singular) Becomes Leaves (Plural)
Loaf (Singular) becomes Loaves (Plural)
Wife (Singular) becomes Wives (Plural)
Calf (Singular) becomes Calves (Plural)
Elf (Singular) Becomes Elves (Plural)


Interestingly enough if you also look at these english rule lists you'll notice something rather interesting.

Look at Rule List Five, (and this was in fact talked about Correctly in an Episode of Kim Possible (Naked Genius to be exact),

(In that episode, Drakken asks Shego if the Plural form of Fish is 'Fish' or 'Fishes'... and the reply Shego gives back is in fact the correct Answer..)

Shego: Fish or Fishes... Both are the correct plural form of the singular word (which is an 'Irregular' Noun) ... 'Fish'..

And who says you can't learn something by watching cartoons...

Edited Note: also here's another one.. Tomato..(Singular) in the plural form the word can end in -'oes' or 'os' so Tomato has both Tomatoes and Tomatos.as the plural form.(All of the words here are in fact.. Irregular nouns that when pluralized fall into those rules shown).

[Mynd Hed]

Edited Note: also here's another one.. Tomato..(Singular) in the plural form the word can end in -'oes' or 'os' so Tomato has both Tomatoes and Tomatos.as the plural form.

But it still can't have tomatoe as a singular form. Sorry, Quayle. </outdated vice presidential diss>

Man, I'm getting old. Got to start working on my Cheney hunting accident jokes to work into casual conversation. You can't go wrong with vice presidential humor!

...Unless you count what I just did, in which case, yes, you can go wrong with it.

(-:

What gets me is the word "spilt" as opposed to "spilled." If you can do that, why can't you say, "I was truly thrilt when I first tasted sushi?"

[Dr.Pepper]

What I'm really wondering about is in the dictionary the past tense of "smell" is "smelled" or in Brtain "smelt". I live in the USA and I hear "smelt" way more than I hear "smelled"

[MEGA TON]

Hey what about nemisis? What's the pural for that?
\

[Tay the Cat]

Hey what about nemisis? What's the pural for that?

nemeses

[Meson]

What I'm really wondering about is in the dictionary the past tense of "smell" is "smelled" or in Brtain "smelt". I live in the USA and I hear "smelt" way more than I hear "smelled"

I beleive this is regional. US English has something like 12 different dialects. I only hear "smelled" here.

[Michael24]

But it still can't have tomatoe as a singular form. Sorry, Quayle. </outdated vice presidential diss>

Of course, that's how it was written on the actual card that he was trying to point out. Not how he actually thought it was spelled.

What gets me is the word "spilt" as opposed to "spilled." If you can do that, why can't you say, "I was truly thrilt when I first tasted sushi?"

On a similar note, I've always wondered why the correct way is to say "he hanged himself" instead of "he hung himself." The second way just sounds more correct to me.

[Dr.Pepper]

On a similar note, I've always wondered why the correct way is to say "he hanged himself" instead of "he hung himself." The second way just sounds more correct to me.

Yeah I know

[tucsoncoyote]

It's rather Interesting to note that there are indeed some differences in both US and British (UK) English

For Example The Word 'tire'(English and the word 'tyre' (British). Both mean the same thing but they are different.

Then there are the variations .. Like A Truck (US) is a Lorry (UK) and a bathroom (US) is a Loo (UK)

but then you have to thank Webster for all this..

oh and Tomato (US) and Tomatoe (UK) are still the same fruit (Guess Quale wanted the kids to Learn UK English

Then I look at the Irregular plural noun rules for words ending in -o.... For Example.. Tornado is the Singular, whereas Tornados or Tornadoes are both Correct Plural Forms of the Singular word.. (The Same Holds true for Tomatoes and Tomatos (which are the plural form of the singular word.. "Tomato"

[Mr Cat Dog]

It's rather Interesting to note that there are indeed some differences in both US and British (UK) English

For Example The Word 'tire'(English and the word 'tyre' (British). Both mean the same thing but they are different.

Then there are the variations .. Like A Truck (US) is a Lorry (UK) and a bathroom (US) is a Loo (UK)

but then you have to thank Webster for all this..

oh and Tomato (US) and Tomatoe (UK) are still the same fruit (Guess Quale wanted the kids to Learn UK English

Then I look at the Irregular plural noun rules for words ending in -o.... For Example.. Tornado is the Singular, whereas Tornados or Tornadoes are both Correct Plural Forms of the Singular word.. (The Same Holds true for Tomatoes and Tomatos (which are the plural form of the singular word.. "Tomato"

Webster obviously knows crap all about British:

For one thing, we don't say tomatoe... it's a tomato! (Pronounced however the hell you like), and bathroom is the official term for a bathroom. Loo is simply British slang. The English language certainly is weird...

[Dr.Pepper]

Yeah loo is slang