"Why do people use an " 's " for plural???" Topic

It drives me nuts.

I see it everywhere, and not just in TMP topic titles.

I see it in my door to door sales. The O'Brien family lives there, so the plaque reads "The O'Brien's".

I see it after an acronym or abbreviation: "Luke's force on Hoth was attacked by 4 AT-AT's!"

I see it after numbers: "The Germans wee shooting at the tanks with 88's."

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

The apostrophe denotes possessive, not plural.
A plain "s" is not only sufficient, but correct. The 's is wrong, and incorrect.

Yes, I have had this rant before. In a few months, I will have it again.

Keep on keepin' on, brother! You preach the gospel!

Have you tried drinking more beer?

Yes, I have. It does not help. They are still there.

It signifies that something is missing. Often, an education.

Maybe if you drank more beer?

I's use's S's at's the's end's of's everything's just's so's I's don't's misse's any's S's and's apostrophe's!

Donald's~

John, whatta yah mean it drives you nuts? I thought you were nuts already. :)

Uh, John? Check out the title of my new topic. I think I used the " 's " correctly. If not, feel free to don a habit and wrack my knuckles.

By the way, I'm in total agreement with you. Am I right in guessing that this is a recent trend?

Uh, the humbleapostrophe.com begs to differ: link

Oh and how do you know that the O'Brien living in the house is not the chief of his clan and therefore known as The O'Brien thereby making his house a singular possessive The O'Brien's?

Don't mind me I am out of beer and just being contrary.

Too many esses, Saginaw.
You should have typed Broncos'…

The chief of the O'Brien clan would not be living in
Nanticoke, Pa.

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

The apostrophe denotes possessive, not plural.

In modern parlance, the apostrophe is used to indicate that an "s" is coming up, just to prepare you. So, if I were to rewrite this sentence in correct modern English, it would look like this:

In modern parlance, the apos'trophe i's u'sed to indicate that an "'s" i's coming up, ju'st to prepare you. 'So, if I were to rewrite thi's 'sentence in correct modern Engli'sh, it would look like thi's:

Doe's that help?

the apos'trophe

yOu mAde'S @ mI'sTake! It's 'sHOuld B apo'strOphe!!!

Perhaps they ran out of paint and had meant to write 'The O'Brien's house."

Too many esses, Saginaw.
You should have typed Broncos'…

Thanks, John. I kinda had a feeling it looked "weird".

More beer ????

YouTube link

x42

The original posting is found here:

TMP link

Running out of topics? Someone is going to accuse you of being a Hollywood movie executive!

Arteis's post on the previous thread is essentially correct. In the past, it was accepted, often preferred, to use an apostrophe when forming the plural of lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numerals, and symbols.

Now, it is generally only considered correct to use the apostrophe when forming the plural of lowercase letters, as in the old phrase, "minding your p's and q's", which coincidentally, stems from old typesetting practice (the two characters being mirror images, it was easy to confuse them).

But past practice has been generally overturned in the other previously-allowed cases, so that one now correctly writes:

"in the 1960s"

"two Mercury XMs"

…and as odd as it looks:

"One should not use & s in formal writing." (The space is deliberate.)

Different style manuals may reflect different practices, but in general, this is the current preferred usage. It may change yet again before the next time th OFM brings it up.

Allen

Thank you for this explanation/reminder, John. For me as a non-native English speaker this is a constant source of confusion.

Its di'sgraceful :)

I was taught English in England and can assert that the 's has nothing to do with plurals. The ' replaces one or more letters in a contraction, to say otherwise is not fashion but plain wrong. I agree with John the OFM.

So what's missing in "This is John's coat"? I suppose you could say it's a contraction from "This is the coat belonging to John", but that's quite a stretch.

Yes, but is it 'James coat', 'James' coat' or 'James's coat'?

"This is John's coat" the explaination would be " John (hi)'s coat.
Assuming one James it would be James's coat

"James' coat " was how I was taught, with "James's" being a little awkward.

Because they're stupid.

Because they don't know how to punctuate correctly.
-Kle.

Allen authoritatively proclaimed:

as in the old phrase, "minding your p's and q's", which coincidentally, stems from old typesetting practice (the two characters being mirror images, it was easy to confuse them).

I have always heard that it meant "Watch your pint's and quart's".

Assuming one James it would be James's coat

As Andrew Paul says, this is incorrect. POssessive of words ending in s is just apostrohe, ie James' coat.
--
Tim

OK, what about St.James's palace and St.James's park?

St. James Infirmary?

Because they're stupid.

or…"Because they's stupid."

Here ya go, John:

picture

CC

OK, what about St.James's palace and St.James's park?

I'd say they should be "St. James' palace" and "St. James' park", if you were simply referring to a palace and park owned by St. James. However, as both of those are proper names, they don't, strictly speaking, need to conform to the proper rules. In any case, it should be "St. James's Palace" and "St. James's Park".

Ah- the infamous "Greengrocer's apostrophy"
Orange's 20p. The orange has money, apparently!

For the Confused and the Foriegn (hey that sounds like a set of rules…)

Plural (only)- S (no apostrophy).
"Look at the boys."

To indicate that a singular noun owns the noun following- 's.
"Look at that boy's game" (one boy, owns the game)

To indicate that a plural noun owns the noun following- s'.
"Look at the boys' game" (many boys own the game)

"Stackable"
"The Boy's games' dice" (The dice from many games, all of which belong to one boy).

The other use of the apostrophy is to denote missing letters in contractions ("I can't speak the cant")

I must admit I'm not sure with acronyms and abbreviations.

Main Battle Tank -> MBT
but Main Battle Tanks- the initials are still MBT, but with out the 's' it isn't clear there are many. I've been going with:
MBTs.

You have not had enough beer's.