Re: apostrophe

[Thomas Neuburger <thomasn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

m w wrote:

>Please consider the following:
>
>When less than three 0's are detected
>
>I believe that there should be no apostrophe in the above statement ...
>Who is right?


Well, since this is a grammar question, it's likely to spark
great debate. :) However --

The "rule" goes like this: Normally we use apostrophes only
for possessives, not for plurals. For plurals of letters and
figures though, there's an exception. The plural of "A" is
officially "A's". That's to keep it distinct from "As".

More modern usage, though, allows the apostrophe to be dropped
where the plural is clearly intended, so the plural of "5" is
either "5s" or "5's" -- your call.

Note that this use of the apostrophe is especially helpful when
using the newer internet acronyms, like DL for download. You can
write (informally) "I just DL'ed the latest version..." and
anyone knowing the acronym will understand you.

Cheers,

Tom Neuburger


m w wrote:

>Please consider the following:
>
>When less than three 0's are detected
>
>I believe that there should be no apostrophe in the above statement; 
>however, I have some other tech writers here who think that you need to 
>have an apostrophe after a single letter or number in order to make it plural.
>
>Who is right?


Mastering FrameMaker
Foundation: Building Sentence Skills
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Author%3DThomas%20Neuburger/>


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