Question

Form the plural form of the noun: wife
a. Wives
b. Wive
c. Wifes
d. None of the above

Answer 1

Hint – Wife is not a regular noun, it ends with -fe therefore a suffix will be added to it before adding an -s. This is the rule for nouns ending with -fe, -f, -lf.

Complete answer:
Since the noun ‘wife’ ends with -fe, according to the rule, -fe would be replaced by -ve before adding an -s towards the end. Therefore, Option a, wives is the correct plural form of the noun ‘wife’. Option b, wive is incorrect. There is no such word in the English language. An s is missing from the end of the word. Adding an s towards the end i.e., after -ve would make it the correct plural form. Option c, ‘wifes’ is incorrect too as it does not follow the grammatical rule for words ending with -fe. As mentioned above, the -fe of the word must be replaced by -ve. There is no such word as ‘wifes’. Option d, ‘None of the above’ is ruled out as we have already found the correct answer to the question in the given options.

Note - For changing singular nouns into plural forms, rules are important. For regular words, s is added towards the end, but there are different rules for words ending with certain letters. The rule of adding -ve before an -s is used for words ending with -f, -fe, -lf.