Re: plurals in acronyms

["Yves Barbion" <yves -dot- barbion -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Hello "lcp gr",

Yes, there is a guideline. The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical
Publications says the following:
Plurals

If you are not sure how to form the plural of a word, check the *American
Heritage Dictionary.* Follow these guidelines for other plurals.

   - Form the plural of an acronym by adding an *s *with no apostrophe.

   *Correct
   *APIs
   CPUs
   DBMSs
   VBXs
   - Form the plural of a single letter by adding an apostrophe and an *s.
   *The letter itself (but not the *s*) is italic.

   *Correct
   **x*'s
   - Form the plural of a number by adding an *s *with no apostrophe.

   *Correct*
   486s
   1950s


Best regards

Yves Barbion
Technical Writer
Adobe-Certified FrameMaker Instructor
____________________________________

U&I Learning NV (formerly ATeK NV)
Molenaarsstraat 111
B-9000 Gent
Belgium
Tel.: +32 9 265 74 72
Fax: +32 9 265 74 84
www.uni-learning.com
____________________________________



On 3/16/06, lcp gr <lcpgr -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> acronym XYZ  is generic for a place, a site like a central office for a
> city, so there could be an XYZ in Columbus, Oberlin, Dublin Ohio.
>
> In the sentence:
>
> You can set guidelines for XYZs with...
>
> How do you actually write it out?  (as in any or all XYZ) or how do you
> write out a plural acronym if its not possessive.  IS that possessive?.
>
> How would you say:  the budget for the XYZs
>
> or  - the XYZ's budgets ?
>
> any of those correct usage incorrect - is there a guideline?
>
> thanks,
>
> lcp
>
>
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--
Yves Barbion
Technical Writer
Adobe-Certified FrameMaker Instructor
____________________________________

U&I Learning NV (formerly ATeK NV)
Molenaarsstraat 111
B-9000 Gent
Belgium
Tel.: +32 9 265 74 72
Fax: +32 9 265 74 84
www.uni-learning.com
____________________________________
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content 
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l 

Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy.  Watch the demo at http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

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