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RedPenCJ Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Use of apostrophe in a plural use of an abbreviation

I would very much appreciate a clarification of the proper usage in the USA where the plural of an abbreviation is used.

Example: Letter of Credit = LOC

"The bank wants to issue two LOCs."

Or...

"The bank wants to issue two LOC's."

Many thanks.
  

Top answer

Hi CJ, There are two schools of thought on this. I think Chicago Manual of Style (which I don't have with me at the moment) advocates for NOT having the apostrophe. I try to leave it out unless the abbreviation itself has some bizarre capitalization in which some of the letters are caps and some not.

— BarbaraPA

  • Hi CJ, There are two schools of thought on this.
  • I think Chicago Manual of Style (which I don't have with me at the moment) advocates for NOT having the apostrophe.
  • I try to leave it out unless the abbreviation itself has some bizarre capitalization in which some of the letters are caps and some not.
  • Since sometimes these same abbreviations also need to be expressed in the possessive, I try to reserve the ' for possessive.
  • But the more important rule it to make sure you are 100% consistent in your usage, whichever way you go.
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2 Answers
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Hi CJ,

There are two schools of thought on this. I think Chicago Manual of Style (which I don't have with me at the moment) advocates for NOT having the apostrophe. I try to leave it out unless the abbreviation itself has some bizarre capitalization in which some of the letters are caps and some not. Since sometimes these same abbreviations also need to be expressed in the possessive, I
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Thanks, Barbara, for the sage advice.

I certainly agree with your thoughts.

Best.

CJ
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