includingplayoff/playoffs,cliff/cliffs, androof/roofs. In some instances, words that end in-fare made plural by changing the ending to-ves, as inhalf/halvesorleaf/leaves, which derives directly from their original pluralization in Old English. This is the plural form we see instaff/staves....
staff is often used as a plural noun and followed by a plural verb. In American English staff is not often used in this way and is never followed by a plural verb. e.g. All the staff are very helpful. The plural form “staffs” is less frequent but is used to refer to...
includingplayoff/playoffs,cliff/cliffs, androof/roofs. In some instances, words that end in-fare made plural by changing the ending to-ves, as inhalf/halvesorleaf/leaves, which derives directly from their original pluralization in Old English. This is the plural form we see instaff/staves....
•You say astaff member(or amember of staffin British English) or anemployee, when talking about one person on the staff.✗Don’t usea staffto refer to one person.•When talking about different groups of people, the plural formstaffsis sometimes used, but it is much less common ...
~ American English The plural form staffs is less frequent but is used in both Br English and Am English to refer to more than one group of people: Companies have increased their sales staffs. Other meaning: Staff (countable) = a long stick (old use) 棍﹐棒 Staff (countable) = a set...
The plural form is more common. The staff are very helpful. The teaching staff is well-qualified and experienced. In American English, staff is usually followed by a singular form. The hotel staff was friendly. Our staff gets bigger every year. Be Careful!Don't refer to an individual ...
The plural form possibly was in Old English but it is not recorded there.step (v.) Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (Anglian), stæppan (West Saxon) "take a step, move the legs and feet as in walking," from West Germanic *stapjanan "tread" (source also of Old ...
apparently from German, from the notion of the baton that is a badge of office or authority (a sense attested in English from 1530s); hencestaff officer(1702),staff-sergeant(1811). In this sensestaffsis the usual plural. The meaning "group of employees (as at an office or hospital)" ...
noun,plural tip·staves [tip-steyvz], tip·staffs. an attendant or crier in a court of law. a staff tipped with metal, formerly carried as a badge of office, as by a constable. any official who carried such a staff.See moreQUIZ Persnickety About Vocabulary? Take A Word Of The Day ...
It has also been demonstrated that convention rather than semantic/ pragmatic motivation plays a crucial role in concord patterns with collective nouns, with individual collective nouns showing their own preferences for a singular or plural form....