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School grades

 
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BMO



Joined: 19 Feb 2004
Posts: 705

PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:05 pm    Post subject: School grades Reply with quote

How many A's, B's, and C's did you get?

Is it A's or As? I think it is A's, but why it is with an apostrophe?

Similarly, in the 1950s or 1950's?

Thanks.
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asterix



Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 1654

PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, it's A's, B's and C's.
It's the 1950's, 1860's, 1400's.
He has trouble writing legible 7's.
Don't use too many if's, and's and but's in your titles.


The apostrophe is used with s to indicate the plurals of numerals, letters and words considered as words.
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BMO



Joined: 19 Feb 2004
Posts: 705

PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, but why not As, Bs, etc. ?
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asterix



Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 1654

PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's just a grammatical convention.
I guess it removes any ambiguity - for example As is a word in its own right.
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BMO



Joined: 19 Feb 2004
Posts: 705

PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, Ok, I got it. Thanks.

bmo
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toe



Joined: 12 Jun 2005
Posts: 120
Location: michigan, usa

PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i read somewhere online
that you can use both 50s and 50's.

50's = as in age of someone. He's in his 50's.
'50s = as in the year. He was born in the '50s.

^^toe
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ebb



Joined: 12 Jan 2006
Posts: 87
Location: USA

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

'50s (with the leading apostrophe) is a separate issue from how the plural is formed.. ... the apostrophe is an indicator that something has been omitted: here, the "19". Just like an apostrophe is used in the word "don't" -- it's short for "do not" and the apostrophe shows that the letter "o" is left out of the contraction.
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