On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, David Combs wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 28, 2000 at 07:52:50AM -0800, Doug Kaufman wrote:
> > Although it would be nice to be consistent throughout the code, I
> > am not sure why some are saying that "URL's" is incorrect grammar.
> > Leaving out the apostrophe seems to be a recent innovation. There
> > clearly would be no need for the apostrophe if it were "U.R.L.s",
> > but without the periods in the acronym, I believe that "URL's" falls
> > within the acceptable "non-possessive 's" rules as described in
> > Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Does anyone have a
> > citation to say that this is incorrect grammar?
> I've got the book, so I typed in the discussion from it:
>
>
> FROM:
> Fowlers Modern English Usage, 2nd edition (by Fowler and Gowers, and VASTLY
> ...
> es. It may occasionally be used before a plural s as a device for avoiding
> confusion, but this should not be extended beyond what is necessary for
> that purpose. We may reasonably write <dot your i's and cross your t's>,
> but there is no need for an apostrophe in <but me no buts> or <one million
> whys>, or for the one we sometimes see in such plurals as M.P.s, A.D.C.s,
> N.C.O.s, the 1929s, etc. To insert an apostrophe in the plural of an
This is the section to which I referred. When using acronyms such
as URL, how can we be sure that there is not a similar acronym URLs
(perhaps meaning "Uniform Resource Locator, secure") either currently
in use or coming into use in the future. The apostrophe makes it clear
that this is a plural of URL, rather than a new acronym. Philip Webb
suggested in another post in this thread www.bartleby.com. Here is
an excerpt from "The American Heritage Book of English Usage. 1996"
(http://www.bartleby.com/64/81.html):
Usage with regard to forming the plurals of letters, numbers,
and abbreviations varies somewhat. In some cases you have a choice
between adding -s or -'s, although the trend is increasingly to
add -s alone: three As or three A's; the ABCs or the ABC's; the
1900s or the 1900's; PhDs or PhD's; several IOUs or several IOU's.
With lowercase letters, symbols, abbreviations with periods, and in
cases where confusion might arise without an apostrophe, use -'s to
form the plural: p's and q's; +'s; -'s; M.A.'s; A's and I's; 2's.
Mainly your goal is to be as clear as possible and avoid confusion.
It seems to me that this is a question of style, rather than of
correct or incorrect grammar. I have no objection whatsoever to the
lynx project deciding to use the "URLs" style instead of "URL's",
although I prefer the latter. I do object to the characterization of
"URL's" as incorrect grammar. Consistency at the expense of increased
difficulty for NLS translators, however, seems a poor value.
Doug
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Doug Kaufman
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
