Crisis, crises, crisies
Writing for Business
Which is correct?
 |
When Ben Franklin said nothing is certain but death and taxes, he could have added one more sure thing: We can be certain there will be at least a few ______ in our lives.a. crisises b. crises c. crisies |
Answer: b
Explanation:
I was writing about crisis management recently and it occurred to me that the plural of crisis is another of those tricky irregular ones. Sure enough, I found 30,200 Google hits for crisies and 101,000 for crisises. Both wrong. Maybe there are four sure things: death, taxes, crises and spelling errors.
Death and taxes is a phrase that resonates. Here’s the original quotation:
Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
—
Benjamin Franklin,
in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789
More on crises and similar plurals:
Quite a few words that end in is are pluralized by changing is to es. Here are a few more examples:
| singular | plural |
| axis | axes |
| analysis | analyses |
| basis | bases |
| diagnosis | diagnoses |
| ellipsis | ellipses |
| emphasis | emphases |
| hypothesis | hypotheses |
| neurosis | neuroses |
| oasis | oases |
| parenthesis | parentheses |
| thesis | theses |
Grammarist provides a handy reference for irregular plurals from which I swiped the examples above. You should go look — she’s got lots more.
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