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As long as we're exploring punctuation, the apostrophe in that case is valid and correct, but it's growing obsolete as it becomes more normal to write "70s". h
by adrianmonk 9y ago
As long as we're exploring punctuation, the apostrophe in that case is valid and correct, but it's growing obsolete as it becomes more normal to write "70s".
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/9199/do-decades-ever-get-apostrophes https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/9199/do-decades-ever...
- jessriedel 9y agoI think it's beyond "more normal", right? https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13631/is-an-apostrophe-with-a-decade-e-g-1920-s-generally-considered-incorrect https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/13631/is-an-apos... Almost all the style guides recommend no apostophes on the end. Rather, apostrophes are reserved for numerals that are lefts out, i.e., '60s or 1960s, but not 1960's.
- adrianmonk 9y agoI guess it depends on how you define acceptable usage. Only a generation ago, it was widely taught to include the apostrophe. Even then it wasn't universal, but it was one recommended way to do it. For example, I have on my bookshelf "Webster's NewWorld Dictionary, Third College Edition" (copyright 1994) which says on p. 1560: "An apostrophe is used ... to show certain coined plurals. ... Figures may take either an apostrophe and an s or an s alone. 1990s or 1990's". It also mentions a rule about using apostrophes with plurals of abbreviations if the abbreviations include internal periods, and it gives the examples of "Ph.D.'s" and "ICBMs". I guess internal periods have fallen out of favor too. Anyway, the overall point here is it was taught this way relatively recently, and I don't think language moves so fast that what was taught a generation or two ago isn't considered acceptable usage. I'd call it correct but archaic.
- jessriedel 9y agoYep, agreed. Thanks for the info!