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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

0 I used to be convinced that the plural did not take the apostrophe as it was not a possessive but I now see the apostrophe used in many places and am full of doubt. What is the correct usage? 02br
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00There are road signs showing "H.G.V.'s only". Surely that can't be right? 02br
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00Would the abbreviation of 'housepoints" be HPs of HP's? 02br
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00If the apostrophe usage is correct then presumably we would see MP's rather than MPs and if this were the case, something belonging to a number of MPs would be MP's' or even MP's's rather than MPs' 02br
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00Can someone please put me right and provide a recognized source so that I can go into battle. 02br
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00Many thanks 0-
  

Top answer

0As you say, this is still a bone of contention, but I believe that most authorities adhere to the simple rule of 'no possessive ergo no apostrophe'. s only 02br 00seven HPs 02br 00seven MPs 02br 00seven MPs' hats. 02br 02br 00Exceptions are usually made for the few cases where confusion is possible, the classic example being 'mind your p's and q's'.

— Mister Micawber

  • 0As you say, this is still a bone of contention, but I believe that most authorities adhere to the simple rule of 'no possessive ergo no apostrophe'.
  • s only 02br 00seven HPs 02br 00seven MPs 02br 00seven MPs' hats.
  • 02br 02br 00Exceptions are usually made for the few cases where confusion is possible, the classic example being 'mind your p's and q's'.
  • 02br 02br 00Here is one [url="05000/"]SOURCE[/url], and here's [url="05100"]ANOTHER[/url].
  • Googling 'apostrophe' will get you several more, with slightly varying opinions, especially re numerals and acronyms.
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16 Answers
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0As you say, this is still a bone of contention, but I believe that most authorities adhere to the simple rule of 'no possessive ergo no apostrophe'. At least I do, and would unhesitantingly write: 02br
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00H.G.V.s only 02br
00seven HPs 02br
00seven MPs 02br
00seven MPs' hats. 02br
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00Exceptions are usually made
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0 Mr. M. - what is your preferred way to show the plural of a letter of the alphabet? In "Mississippi" there are four 01i00________, four ___________ and two _________02i00. 02br
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00S's?? "S"s?? (Surely not Ss.) 02br
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00Thanks! 02br
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00-khoff 0-
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0'Four esses, four ayes and two pees.' 02br
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00'Four s's, four i's and two p's, ' if I had to. 0-
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0 I think we'll have to agree to disagree here - I would never use "esses," unless it was in a Scrabble game, in which case it might come in handy. I would probably write "s"s. 0-
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i would say:

mind your 'p's and 'q's (no apostrophes, inverted commas).

on another note, the general rule for apostrophes seems to be (from the links above) that they are not used with possessive pronouns (his, her, my, its), but does this also apply to 'one'? is it ones or one's?

sara + phil
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0 it is 1990's with an apostrophe 0-
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0(I would prefer 01b001990s02b00.)02br
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00MrP0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10MrPedantic12cite10(I would prefer 11b101990s12b10.)12br
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10MrP12br
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12blockquote
10So would the AP stylebook.0-
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According to the 4th ed. of The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers the answer is this. When indicating plural letters like 4 s's, 4 i's, and 2 p's you separate the letter and the 's' that makes it a plural with a single apostrophe. When writing the plural of a number like
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0 I think the p's and q's argument is most salient here. The apostrophe is used for the sake of clarity. While conventionally used for the possessive, the apostrophe is also used to indicate vernacular omissions and contractions, such as in the cases of "Ol' Dirty *******" or "N'awlins." This understadning of the usage of apostrophes is important for thinking about the 1990s/1990's problem.
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