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Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

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Anonymous, 2 yr 50 days ago

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 3s or 5s you can omit the apostrophe.  The book does not go so far as to say that it is wrong or right if you leave the apostrophe in like 3's or 5's.  Based on the wording, it seems that either would be correct.

I hope this is helpful.  At least I know now that it is not wrong to write it as 3s and 5s.

Anonymous, 1 yr 205 days ago
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.  If you were to spell out the actual words 1990 and 1990s/1990's,  you get the words "nineteen ninety" and "nineteen nineties."  The difference between these two words is a "y" and an "ies."    The possessive spelling of 1990's would be "nineteen ninety's," the plural, "nineteen nineties."   The abbreviated representation of the possessive should clearly be 1990's, but what about the plural?  One could argue that the apostrophe in this case stands for the omission of the "ie" in "nineteen nineties" 
Related discussions
fooladder  +  508821 Sat, 03 May 08 05:29 AM

MrPedantic
“

(I would prefer 1990s.)

”
Unless ofcourse when used as a possisive. In which case it becomes troubling to distinguish between some that was from 1990 or from the 1990s.
fooladder
Joined on Tue, Feb 19 2008
New Member 07
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!
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Grammar Geek  +  509010 Sat, 03 May 08 04:30 PM

Hello fooladder, welcome to the forums.

Obvioulsy, with the possessive, you use the apostrophe.

It was a popular tune sometime back in the early 1990s.

He has 1990's biggest hit record. (Obviously, a possessive.) EDITED for clarity -by this I mean the one year, 1990.

He was the 1990s' most popular enteratiner. (Also possessive.) EDITED for clairty - by this I mean the decade of the 1990s.
Grammar Geek
Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006
Veteran Member 19,671
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Anonymous, 1 yr 204 days ago
 Actually, the possessive would be "ninteen ninties'" because you're talking about a possessive of the plural form, the decade is constituted by all of the years in total.  So the abbreviated form of the possessive should be 1990s' - with the apostrophe after the s, just like if you were talking about the possessive of any plural.  No?  
Grammar Geek  +  509153 Sun, 04 May 08 02:31 AM

I've edited my prior post for clarity. I though it was clear by saying "the 1990s'"  what I meant but apparently not.

I don't think we're disageeing at all here - do you?
Grammar Geek
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Takoyaki-English  +  509174 Sun, 04 May 08 05:03 AM

Hello.

1) 1990s
2) 1990's
Both are acceptable and often used, aren't they? The first one is my preference, though.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/weekly/ed/ed20070526a1.htm
"... in the early 1990s..."
I think that 1990, 1991 and 1992 are called the early 1990s. Do "the early 1990s" include "1993" and "1994"?
Takoyaki-English
Joined on Tue, Apr 29 2008
Full Member 131
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Grammar Geek  +  509391 Sun, 04 May 08 03:08 PM

I would say 1993, but not 1994. 1994, 1995, and 1996 are the mid-1990s.
Grammar Geek
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