plural form of elf

You must get at least 29/33 to ace this test. A world in which elves exist and magic works offers greater opportunities to digress and explore. Some nouns have a fixed plural form and take a plural verb. In 21st-century edited writing, it appears many times more often than elfs. What is the plural form of "Elf"? We speak of the leaves on the trees, a den of thieves, two halves making a whole. Such creatures also turn up in advertising, where they are known for, among other things, making cookies inside a tree. Quantums . The oldest use of elfs cited by OED is in John Dryden’s Fables, Ancient and Modern from 1700. humpadumpa says . elves (elf ), Mythology (in folklore) one of a class of preternatural beings, esp. Looking for something else? (Terry Brooks) In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the elves are almost as small as insects. . Since these creatures usually work as a team (a necessity, given how relatively tiny they are), it’s important to know how to render the plural for their species. Modern use of the word elf almost always shows up in the plural as elves, with the spelling elfs turning up on infrequent occasions: Size doesn’t matter much in the world of elves. You must get at least 29/33 to ace this test. Word Forms +-singular: elf: plural: elves: DEFINITIONS 1. Download Grammarly's app to help with eliminating grammar errors and finding the right words. The plural of elf is elves . Vocational rather than academic, "Grammar for Grown-ups" is packed with real-life examples and keeps you engaged with a wealth of great quotations from Homer the Greek to Homer the Simpson. (She was so fair and happy and seemed elegant, an elfefrom anothe… In the Highlands of Scotland, new-born children are watched till the christening is over, lest they should be stolen or changed by some of these phantastical existences.”. Find more answers. Elfs . Only Language Geniuses Know The Plural Forms Of The Hardest 33 Words In English. Straight talking and methodical, "Smashing Grammar" (Our Grammar Book, 2019), some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change, A world in which elves exist and magic works offers greater opportunities to digress and explore. (obsolete) A female elf, a fairy, nymph 1.1. ), 10 May 2019, Santa will fly in with two of his elfs, and Santa’s chair will be propped up so children can see Santa. Plural Form. The Plural of Shelf The plural of shelf is shelves. Although elfs may occasionally be found in print the accepted modern plural form of elf is elves. Same with briefs, beliefs, roofs, and reliefs, as well as just about all words ending in double-f: tariffs, bailiffs, sheriffs, cliffs, mastiffs, bluffs, cuffs, earmuffs. a diminutive person, especially a child. January 14, 2014 at 12:14 am. Correct! An elf can refer to a mystical being with magical powers from folklore, modern fantasy, or Santa’s helpers. Do you disagree with something on this page. Parents’ is used in the plural form for both parents, so there is an apostrophe after the letter -s, as in parents’ house. elfe (plural elfen or elfene) 1. We can work on verb tenses, describing, prepositions, answering questions, and even the plural form of “elf!” This is a regular memory matching game so students will easily know what to do. For example, the … — The Edmond Sun (Oklahoma), 14 Dec. 2018. Elves have been part of Germanic folklore since medieval times, where they were usually depicted as having a similar appearance to humans. — The Portland Press Herald, 9 Dec. 2019, Based on the classic by J.R.R. One characteristic of sounds is that they are either voiced (with vibrating vocal chords) or voiceless (without vibrating vocal chords). By then, use of elves as the preferred plural for the creature was well established in English, following the example set by many other nouns that end in an –f that converts to a v when the noun in pluralized: shelf becomes shelves; scarf (usually) becomes scarves; wolf and calf becomes wolves and calves. Elves is the standard plural form for elf according to the OED and it cites examples going back to Shakespear’s The Tempest from 1623 and Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan from 1651. 'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'? House impeaches Trump again, insurrection Looking for something else? Illustrations usually depict Santa’s elves as short and smiling creatures wearing green. Elves were a ripe subject for poets ranging from Chaucer to Shakespeare to Dryden, though no consensus could seem to be reached on how to render the plural. The plural form is used to mark more than one specific thing. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! You must get at least 29/33 to ace this test. In Germanic folklore, the term elf referred to any of a variety of creatures, usually of small stature, not necessarily out to cause harm but always mischievous. Biden sworn in as 46th President, impeach Tolkien, “The Hobbit Play” will feature 44 M.V. In addition to elf / ælf (masc. 5 minutes ago In what ways might it … We Added New Words to the Dictionary for January 2021, Study Up With Our Official SCRABBLE Dictionary. Chief, despite ending in the same three letters as thief, gets pluralized as chiefs. 'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'? Times (Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” describes the visitor as “a right jolly old elf.” In 1850, Louisa May Alcott completed a manuscript entitled Christmas Elves, but it was never published. New questions in English. ... What is the correct plural of 'quantum'? elf (elf ), n., pl. The noun elf adheres to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English (shown in the table below). Charter School students … there will be singing dwarves, dancing hobbits, and elves, along with other characters—Gollum, trolls, goblins, and even a dragon. 1.1.1. What is the correct plural of 'cactus'? Instead, ''elf'' is one of those less common nouns that you have... See full answer below. But the popular fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien preferred the plural form dwarves in his works, possibly as a deliberate echo of elves: As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Learn a new word every day. Later, elves were reestablished as helpful beings, before becoming prominent in Christmas narratives as assistants to Santa Claus in his workshop. That might have been due partly to popular perception of elves as distinctly belonging to past times, leading to a scarcity of the word’s occurrence in then-contemporary prose. Elf derives from Old English. Slippery Words Quiz—Changing with the Times. And of course, Santa Claus relies on a workforce of these tiny individuals to make the toys he delivers to children every December. ), Old English had parallel form *elfen (fem. One of the best ways to understand a word is to learn where it came from. Scho was so faire & so fresche, as faucon hire semed, An elfe out of an-othire erde, or ellis an Aungell.— The Wars of Alexander, 1450 1.1.1. The preferred plural of elf is elves, following the grammar of shelf and shelves or wolf and wolves. (Terry Brooks). ): npl plural noun: Noun always used in plural form--for example, "jeans," "scissors. casiupper casiupper Answer: Elves. It’s personal growth that makes all the difference, according to the highly entertaining production of “Elf – The Musical” now running at the Lyric Music Theater in South Portland. The plural form of elf is elves . Arthurian. The preferred plural of elf is elves, following the grammar of shelf and shelves or wolf and wolves. Nouns like this include: trousers, jeans, glasses, savings, thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, … /ɛlvz/. from mountainous regions, with magical powers, given to capricious and often mischievous … What is the plural form of "Elf"? ), the plural of which was *elfenna, -elfen, from Proto-Germanic *albinjo-. (noun) His work on The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, left in MS. and incomplete (the remainder is in the Laing MSS., Edinburgh University library), was published (a hundred copies) in 1815 by Sir Walter Scott, and in the Bibliotheque de Carabas (Lang) there is a French translation. As plurals of elf, both elfs and elves have long histories in English, and there is plenty of precedent for both, but elves has always been the more common form by far, and it remains so to this day. 1. a small imaginary person with magic powers. Spelling, in this case, is determined by phonetics. 1) Elfs 2) Elves. Then there are those nouns that end in –fe: wife and knife become wives and knives. How to use a word that (literally) drives some pe... Do you know these earlier meanings of words? . They often had supernatural powers, and were sometimes considered potentially dangerous, but aloof. Most People Don\\\’t Know The Plural Form of These Words. However, the details of these beliefs have varied … Elves is the plural form of the noun elf, which refers to a fantasy creature. Armed rioters storm Capitol building. Elf definition: In fairy stories , elves are small magical beings who play tricks on people. The plural form of "elf" is "elves". Explanation: I did the test and got it right. This is because the word is first pluralized to parents with the addition of the letter -s and then cannot have another -s added to show possession, thus an apostrophe is added in front of the whole. Over the rolling plains of Edelwilde walk giants, dwarfs, elves, fairies and many other creatures unknown to the rest of the world. Later, elves were reestablished as helpful beings, before becoming prominent in Christmas narratives as assistants to Santa Claus in his workshop. An elf (plural: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore.In medieval Germanic-speaking cultures, elves seem generally to have been thought of as beings with magical powers and supernatural beauty, ambivalent towards everyday people and capable of either helping or hindering them. 1) Elfs 2) Elves. Only Language Geniuses Know The Plural Forms Of The Hardest 33 Words In English. What is the plural of elf? While both dwarfs and dwarves have demonstrated historical use for the noun (which, like elf, derives from Old English), the preference for dwarfs was perhaps encouraged by the title of Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Both words survived into Middle English and were active there, the former as elf (with the vowel of the plural), plural elves, the latter as elven, West Midlands dialect alven (plural elvene). Find more words! You must get at … Inflections of 'elf' (n noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc. The story now best known as “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” in which the creatures work during the night to help an indigent merchant, was published in the German Grimm’s Fairy Tales as “Die Wichtelmänner”; Margaret Hunt chose “The Elves” as the title when the story was translated into English in 1884. Prev Article Next Article . The two elves approached the last goblin, still stuck to the ground, from both sides. Quanta . — J.R.R. Correct! A noun comparable to elf that went its own route when it came to establishing a plural is dwarf. You must get at least 29/33 to ace this test. This follows the common method of pluralizing nouns in English … The noun shelf adheres to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English (shown in the table below). Are You Good at Plurals? A poem called “The Wonders of Santa Claus,” published by Harper’s Weekly in 1857, describes the legend: “In his house upon the top of a hill, / And almost out of sight, / He keeps a great many elves at work, / All working with all their might.” An American women’s magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book is credited with one of the earliest depictions of elves as toy workers assisting Santa, with workshop illustrations adorning the cover of its 1873 Christmas issue. Wrong!- What is the correct plural of 'goose'? 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