How it Works1 min ago
What's the difference...
16 Answers
...between the buttons Threads I'm involved in and Q's I gave answers to ( BTW should there be an apostrophe in Q's?)? Thankyou.
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Apostrophes are sometimes used where letters are omitted (indeed the ordinary possessive apostrophe exists for this reason: Bill's book would once have been Billes book); so Q's is short for questions. Not everyone does this, but I think it's acceptable, and there's no need for AB Ed to cut his weekend short to sort it out.
I'm sure that one could argue that the apostrophe in Q's is correct. The apostrophe has two uses - one is to show possession and the other is to show omission.
This is definitely not a possessive use so, as acw stated, the apostrophe is not needed.
If we were talking about multiple versions of the letter Q then he would also be correct as it would be a simple plural. The problem is now that the Q is being used here as an abbreviation for question so couldn't one argue that Q's just indicates the missing estion, just as the apostrophe indicates the missing i in that's or in it's?
Just an idea for discussion, not trying to give a definitive answer.
ABEd has nothing to rush back for anyway because there are sites out there, some of them from educational establishments that support his/her use of an apostrophe for Q's.
This site example1 states:
The only time when adding apostrophe s to make something plural is when you are working with numbers written as numbers or with words, letters, numbers, or symbols as themselves.
and this site example2 states as a third use of an apostrophe:
Use 3. To form plurals of letter, numbers, and symbols
Examples:
two A's = two letters that happen to both be A
six 5's = six numbers that are each 5
many &'s = many symbols that look like &
I know that in this case we are NOT referring to the letter Q itself, but to an abbreviation. Maybe it depends on how we say it. If we see the phrase Q's and A's, do we read it as (phonetically) kews and ays, or do we interpret it and read it as questions and answers?
There, the whole can of worms is open again.
don't know about where you are Artful, but in the AB part of the world this is a bank holiday weekend, so if the AB Ed heard your call (it would have gone out by carrier pigeons and alpenhorns, that sort of thing) and came rushing back on his white stallion, he would have been jolly distressed to find the apostrophe was okay all the time. Let us hope he hasn't been disturbed.
jno - interesting information regarding the omission of the E in - what would have been - Billes book.
I had heard slightly different information - namely that our form of showing the genetive dates back to the Old German 'Dative Possessive' form. So we would write Bill's book because it would have originally been Bill his book (we'd omit the ' hi').
You may well be right, IndieSinger, though it seems there is some doubt about exactly what the form used to be. (I just made up Billes book as a possible example.) I'm not sure how it would have been used of a woman - Ann his book? Quite possibly.
I gather Chaucer's original Canterbury Tales had Wyves Tale of Bath (wyves would have been two syllables - and notice how the 'of Bath' has been separated out) but also The Man of Lawe His Tale. Either way, the apostrophe marks something that's been left out.
(This from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the the English Language.)
Just shows the enthusiasm of some, doesn't it! Mind you it's all made very interesting and "ooh I never knew that!" reading. Glad you had a good night's rest, acw. All set to face what this bright Sunday morning has to offer, I hope.
Anyway I'm off up to the polling station for the Nay/Yay vote on the European Constitution.
Anyway I'm off up to the polling station for the Nay/Yay vote on the European Constitution.
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