Basics for Communicating Clearly

by Linda Shacklock

Plural Nouns

More and more these days, we see an apostrophe mistakenly used to make a noun plural (more than one). Don't do that!

book, books
bus, buses
computer, computers
day, days
dollar, dollars
glass, glasses
Jones family, the Joneses
story, stories
yes and no, yeses and nos

Plural Abbreviations

Although some sources recommend using an apostrophe to make an abbreviation plural, most technical communicators use the clean style of omitting the apostrophe in a plural abbreviation.

ATM, ATMs
GIF, GIFs
ICBM, ICBMs
JPEG, JPEGs
MBA, MBAs
PC, PCs
PDF, PDFs

Collected "Grammar Central" topics:  Click here.

Questions or idea for a column?  E-mail Linda Shacklock.