By Plurals, Abbreviations

Re: Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

Hello. 1) 1990s2) 1990'sBoth 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...

Re: Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

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?

Re: Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

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...

Re: Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

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...

Re: Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 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.

Re: Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

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...

Re: Plural of s = s'es?

Seems that we are talking about different dictionaries instead of different versions. The name on the page you quoted does not have "Webster's". Anyway, why we need a plural for PS? A postscript is a short remark. Although it is possible that the "short" remark is not...

Re: Plural of s = s'es?

Sorry Yoong Liat, I think I didn't made it clear. The abbreviation of PS was made up arbitrarily. I didn't mean postscript. I could have used anything like BS, CS, DS, etc. in my question.Regarding the apostrophe for abbreviations, let me quote some of the references I've read:The...

Re: Plural of s = s'es?

What I've found surprises me. It seems that I was taught wrongly. Encarta Dictionary P.SS. or p.ss abbr Definition: postscripts Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This P.SS. postscripts.Also, p.ss. Resultspss was found in the Cambridge Advanced...

Re: Plural of s = s'es?

Hi Yoong Liat,May I ask why you think it should be s's and PS's?For the second one, style guides I read do not recommend using apostrophe for plurals of abbreviations although some people do use them.