[Grammar] check

[Will17]

Hello!

Can "check" (the shape) be plural?

Thank you
W

 

[5jj]

There is a check (pattern), but not a check (shape).

Do you prefer checks or stripes? (Oxford ALD)

 

[riquecohen]

Hello!

Can "check" (the shape) be plural?

Thank you
W

Yes. "Do you prefer checks or stripes?"

5JJ beat me to it, and he is correct about pattern rather than shape.
I should have cited the Oxford ALD as well.

 

[5jj]

Yes. "Do you prefer checks or stripes?"

5JJ beat me to it, and he is correct about pattern rather than shape.
I should have cited the Oxford ALD as well.

;-)

 

[Barb_D]

Oh, silly me. I thought he meant this: :tick:

 

[5jj]

Oh, silly me. I thought he meant this: :tick:

Oh silly you! That's a tick.

Well, it is to speakers of BrE.
;-)

 

[Pedroski]

I thought it was 'a chequered pattern' or even 'a checkered pattern', but not 'a check pattern'. The latter must be the time-saving version!

 

[5jj]

I thought it was 'a chequered pattern' or even 'a checkered pattern', but not 'a check pattern'. The latter must be the time-saving version!

Chequered (BrE) was rarely, if ever used in that sense for cloth. Its use, at least as far as can be judged from the example sentences in the full OED, appeared to be mainly when an overt comparison to an (ex)chequer board was being made. We still, however, have the chequered flag in motor racing.

The OED gives an entry for checked with reference to the pattern on a cloth as far back as1536. It also cites Smolletts' check shirts, 1748.