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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

Apostrophe usage

I know apostrophes don't normally indicate plural, however someone said that if used in abbreviations it is acceptable:
gig's (gigabytes), mp3's, DB's (Data bases), PC's, etc.

Is this true?
  

Top answer

[nq:1]I know apostrophes don't normally indicate plural, however someone saidthat if used in abbreviations it is acceptable: gig's (gigabytes), mp3's, DB's (Data bases), PC's, etc. [/nq] Acceptable to whom? If you think they're needed, use them; if not, don't.

— Usenet

  • [nq:1]I know apostrophes don't normally indicate plural, however someone saidthat if used in abbreviations it is acceptable: gig's (gigabytes), mp3's, DB's (Data bases), PC's, etc.
  • [/nq] Acceptable to whom?
  • If you think they're needed, use them; if not, don't.
  • Michael West
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5 Answers
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[nq:1]I know apostrophes don't normally indicate plural, however someone saidthat if used in abbreviations it is acceptable: gig's (gigabytes), mp3's, DB's (Data bases), PC's, etc. Is this true?[/nq]
Acceptable to whom?
If you think they're needed,
use them; if not, don't.

Michael West
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[nq:1]I know apostrophes don't normally indicate plural, however someone said that if used in abbreviations it is acceptable: gig's (gigabytes), mp3's, DB's (Data bases), PC's, etc. Is this true?[/nq]
NO.
It is not true.
A Friend of the Apostrophe
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[nq:1]I know apostrophes don't normally indicate plural, however someone said that if used in abbreviations it is acceptable: gig's (gigabytes), mp3's, DB's (Data bases), PC's, etc. Is this true?[/nq]
When I was a pre-teen, I was taught that plurals of acronyms (including initialisms), individual letters, and numbers took an apostrophe. For instance: "There are two 7's in '1776'," or "Three UF
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[nq:2]I know apostrophes don't normally indicate plural, however someone said ... (gigabytes), mp3's, DB's (Data bases), PC's, etc. Is this true?[/nq]
[nq:1]NO. It is not true. A Friend of the Apostrophe[/nq]
A false friend, unfortunately.
But here's what the editors of the Oxford
dictionaries, who are infinitely smarter than
you are, have to say:
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[nq:2]I know apostrophes don't normally indicate plural, however someone said ... (gigabytes), mp3's, DB's (Data bases), PC's, etc. Is this true?[/nq]
[nq:1]NO. It is not true. A Friend of the Apostrophe[/nq]
So if you were talking about lower case letters of the alphabet, you would write the as and the us?

Rob Bannister
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