The plural of kerchief is kerchiefs - not kerchieves, so the plural of handkerchief is handkerchiefs - not alternatives which is copping out.
The same as the plural of thief is thieves and not thiefs. There must be some grammatical or maybe contextual rule about this, but I cannot see it. Does anybody know, or do we have to remember all of these archaic rules of spelling rather than applying a rule that can be applied to all nouns ending in ief?
I thought of verbs that could also be gerunds, or nouns that were also verbs - such a thieving, but not handkerchieving, but that fails when we consider a belief and believing in its plural being beliefs.
So there are no apparent rules: does anybody know of any universal law of spelling that meets my believes - sorry, beliefs? Chiefs can chief but thiefs cannot thief - so is that it? The verb form? If you can thieve then you are thieves and thieving, and if you can chief then your are chiefs and chiefing?
But how about belief and beliefing? That doesn't work. There must be a rule there somewhere!
I am confused - anybody any ideas?
Pete
article-services.com
P.S.: I spell-checked this, and thiefs, chiefing and beliefing were all wrong - I know that, so where do we go from here?
Later addition by Pete: I have thought on this, and:
More than one thief thieves, and plural is thieves
More than one chief doesn't chieve, so plural isn't chieves
More than one belief is beliefs, so plural is beliefs (Obviously)
More than one brief doen't brieve so plural is briefs ?
There is an inkling of a pattern there - isn't their? Or maybe it's just that there are so few words ending in 'ief' that nobody has a clue what their plural is!
That is the correct spelling of "handkerchief."
As with the word chief/chiefs, all you have to do to make "handkerchief" plural is add an "s"(handkerchiefs).(The plural handkerchieves is correct but found less frequently in ordinary use.)
The plural form of "axe" is "axes."
chimneyes
You have it spelled correctly, if you are referring to a single event. The plural is spelled crises.
It is handkerchief. It is weird, handkerchieves sounds right.
The plural of handkerchief is either handkerchiefs or handkerchieves, either is acceptable.
That is the correct spelling of "handkerchief."
The plural is handkerchiefs. All you have to do to make "handkerchief" plural is add an "s".
Handkerchiefs is the plural. The singular form of the word is handkerchief.
As with the word chief/chiefs, all you have to do to make "handkerchief" plural is add an "s"(handkerchiefs).(The plural handkerchieves is correct but found less frequently in ordinary use.)
The plural of handkerchief is handkerchiefs
If you mean handkerchief, the plural is handkerchiefs
Vases, gloves, lovers, invertebrates, ... ============================== loaf = loaves calf = calves half = halves handkerchief = handkerchieves
Handkerchiefs.
The plural form of the noun company is spelled companies.
The word is spelled vacancy. Plural is vacancies.