Do you use an apostrophe in plural dates? |
|
Votes: 1161
Comments: 12
Added: September 2003
| Karen Skullerud - 15th October 2003 21:06 |
| According to the current MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, fifth edition, 2.2.7, "Do not use an apostrophe to form the plural abbreviation or a number." |
| Willbut - 2nd November 2003 22:01 |
| I can't see any need to do so either. |
| tdol - 6th November 2003 23:40 |
| There is a case for using it with single letters to breaks them up: Mind you p's and q's. However, you could also say: Mind your Ps and Qs. ;-) |
| Bridget - 7th November 2003 22:44 |
| I believe that this mistake started when people abbreviated the decade. I can see '70s accidentally becoming the dreadful, evil, incorrect apostrophe way in a heart beat! Thank God that our correct side is winning this battle! |
| Willbut - 9th November 2003 21:38 |
| In the UK, the correct side are losing everywhere in the apostrophe war's. <gggg> |
| Joan - 15th November 2003 01:43 |
| Never. |
| Asif - 11th February 2004 21:54 |
| Not sure if the apostrophe should be used, but it looks ok! My English isn't as you can tell; need to improve it in all areas |
| lenny - 5th March 2007 13:29 |
| hi everybody :) Actualy I'm learning english so (GOOD LUCK FOR MY SELF) I have question about this vote so I did 1970's it's wrong answer? |
| Boywonder - 18th May 2007 17:54 |
| No apostrophe. In this example, the 1970s is a collection of years (1970, 1971, etc.) and hence “1970s” is plural which does not require an apostrophe. |
| Caleb Talati - 29th May 2007 19:57 |
| In the "Penguin Guide to Punctuation"(1997), I read that the apostrophe is not needed for forming the dates of plurals in British English. However, according to the author, it is needed in American English. I find it easy writing both "1970s" and "1970's". |
| Daniel - 26th August 2009 23:17 |
| The apostrophe, to me, is simply wrong. It's nineties, not ninety's. We'd use an apostrophe to denote something belonging to 1990. The decade is simply a set of years, so it is "1990s". |
| Gus Payne - 13th November 2009 12:34 |
| This is fairly straight forward: No apostrophe. We say the "seventies" not the "seventy's". The mistake I keep making is "it's" (possessive) instead of "its". E.G: "it's leg" is incorrect, while "the dog's leg" is correct. What's so special about the word "it" for us to drop the possessive apostrophe? Okay I know there's ambiguity about mixing it up with "it is", but still... |
