Punctuation question

[Alpo]

What is the correct way to write a plural of a vowel letter?

 

"In algebra, you need to keep up with your exes and whys". How does one spell X(plural) and Y(plural)? Xs and Ys does not look right, but might be. X's and Y's is absolutely wrong.

 

But how about instead of exes and whys, you have Ayys and Bees? As and Bs? That reads as "as", not "ayys".

 

This actually came up because in a book I'm reading they need to "dot our I's and cross our T's", and my mind kicked in - You don't use an apostrophe to make a plural. But if you remove the apostrophe, your "eyes" becomes "is".

 

When I do it, I write - dot our "I"s and cross our "T"s. But is that correct?

 

 

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

If you recall our previous thread on grammar, remember there are several style manuals in use now. They differ on details such as this. However, I can tell you from my academic and military endeavors, the three manuals with which I am familiar all agree on this nuance. The one you thought does not look right is actually correct: Xs and Ys.

 

This holds true for acronyms, as well. Since the military has such a proclivity for acronyms, I'll use a military one: BFA, for Blank Firing Adaptor. It's the plug you screw on to the end of a rifle barrel to make it fire blanks. The plural for BFA is BFAs.

 

This explanation is true in the Chicago Manual of Style, American Psychological Association Manual of Style, and the Army writing manual known as DA PAM 25-20.

[Cat Brules]

My understanding has been that we should use the apostrophe, even though it seems to denote the possessive in cases where such is unintended and in many cases, just looks wrong. Some simply use the letter, "s" without the apostrophe, which also seems wrong. (I did both for a while, changing up to comply with various work situations.) The confusing thing, I think are the style rules, which do vary. Not only that, there are a lot of situationals to consider under each style rule set. I say that if your living, or academic future, your reputation, your level of obsessiveness, geographic location, etc., relies on perfect use of the printed word, you should determine and use the style designated by your circumstances. Be safe. Determine the various styles in use, purchase up-to-date style guides and keep them close for handy reference.

 

I also suggest that if you don't proof your work carefully, you go into your settings on your mobile device and turn off the very often annoying "auto complete" or "auto correct" feature.

[Sedalia Dave]

Is can mean two things

 

Is he going with us?

 

dot your Is

 

Another example is the work lead.

 

cast lead bullet

 

Denver is in the lead

 

Taken out of context you have no way of knowing what was meant. However within the context of the sentence the meaning becomes clear.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

without context there is no point in reading the sentence.

[Sparky Nelson]

If you recall our previous thread on grammar, remember there are several style manuals in use now. They differ on details such as this. However, I can tell you from my academic and military endeavors, the three manuals with which I am familiar all agree on this nuance. The one you thought does not look right is actually correct: Xs and Ys.

 

I concur, but I'd go with "...you need to keep up with your X and Y variables."