You have probably seen the slogan Black Lives Matter. When a student sees “lives” s/he immediately may think it is the third person singular form of the verb To Live. However, “Lives” can also be the plural form of the noun “Life”. This nouns, like others that end in “fe” are irregular, and in their plural form change to “ves”. One example of this is “Knife”: one KNIFE, two KNIVES.
