I really tried to find an answer in Internet but turns out I've found two different answers for the same question: how do you say the plural of a number (used as noun)?
Let me elaborate:
Suppose I'm explaining to a child how to add (in Math). I'd say:
Four twos make an eight.
Or I could say:
Four two's make an eight.
On one webpage I found the first one to be correct. I asked to an online tutor about this and she told me the second one is correct. So, which one is correct? Is that a general rule? If the second one is correct, would that mean it applies to all numbers?
Answer
The first is correct:
Four twos make an eight.
It is good and right to say and write, "twos," in a situation like this, as with any number—following all the normal rules of adding "s" to make a noun plural... "fives", "twenties" (y -> i, +es), et cetera.
The apostrophe...
two's
...indicates a possessive, not a plural. That would be a different situation, such as if you were talking about the font the two was written in, "The two's serifs are larger in the Tex Gyre Schola font." Or, in Math, "The two's quotient can only be a one or a two if it is to be a whole number."
Links (Grammarly):
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