Friday, May 19, 2017

grammatical number - Is “ ’s ” ever correct for pluralization?



A relatively modern dictionary (I don’t know which one, because we’ve cut out the pages and used them as wallpaper in our bathroom, but I know it’s less than 20 years old) indicates that R’s is one correct pluralization of R, as is Rs, but whichever dictionary this is, it’s kind of a no-name brand, so I’m not sure I trust it.




I’ve always wondered what the best way was to pluralize single letters or numerals, like 2’s or 2s. What’s correct?


Answer



From this Wikipedia page:





  • It is generally acceptable to use apostrophes to show plurals of single
    lower-case letters, such as be sure to
    dot your i's and cross your t's
    . Some
    style guides would prefer to use a

    change of font: dot your is and cross
    your
    ts. Upper case
    letters need no apostrophe (I got
    three As in my exams)
    except when
    there is a risk of misreading, such as
    at the start of a sentence: A's are
    the highest marks achievable in these
    exams.

  • For groups of years, the apostrophe at the end cannot be regarded as
    necessary, since there is no

    possibility of misreading. For this
    reason, most authorities prefer 1960s
    to 1960's (although the latter is
    noted by at least one source as
    acceptable in American usage), and
    90s or '90s to 90's or '90's.

  • The apostrophe is sometimes used in forming the plural of numbers (for
    example, 1000's of years); however, as
    with groups of years, it is
    unnecessary: there is no possibility

    of misreading. Most sources are
    against this usage.

  • The apostrophe is often used in plurals of symbols. Again, since there
    can be no misreading, this is often
    regarded as incorrect. That page
    has too many &s and #s on it.

  • Finally, a few sources accept its use in an alternative spelling of the
    plurals of a very few short words,
    such as do, ex, yes, no, which become
    do's, ex's, etc. In each case,

    dos, exes, yeses (or yesses) and noes
    would be preferred by most
    authorities. Nevertheless, many
    writers are still inclined to use such
    an apostrophe when the word is thought
    to look awkward or unusual without
    one.



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