Editing Apostrophe (section)

====Letters of the alphabet, and small words====
For single lowercase letters, pluralization with ''<nowiki/>'s'' is usual.<ref name="MW apostrophe">{{cite book |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877796336/page/79 79] |title=Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage |date=2002 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780877796336 |quote=Letters are usually pluralized with ''<nowiki />'s'': ''mind your p's and q's'' although capital letters are sometimes pluralized with ''s'' alone. The use of ''<nowiki />'s'' to form the plurals of numerals, abbreviations, and symbols is not now as common as pluralization with simple ''s''; 1970s, CPUs, &s are more likely to be found than the apostrophied counterparts. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877796336/page/79}}</ref><ref name="Garner apostrophe">{{cite book |last1=Garner |first1=Bryan A. |author-link1=Bryan A. Garner |title=Garner's ModernEnglish Usage |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190491482 |quote=[The apostrophe] is sometimes used to mark the plural of an acronym, initialism, number, or letter—e.g.: ''CPA's'' (now more usually ''CPAs''), 1990's (now more usually ''1990s''), and ''p's and q's'' (still with apostrophes because of the single letters).}}</ref><ref name="Huddleston apostrophe">{{cite book |pages=1586–7|last1=Huddleston |first1=Rodney |author-link1=Rodney Huddleston|last2= Pullum |first2= Geoffrey |author-link2=Geoffrey Pullum|title=The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521431468 |quote=An apostrophe may be used to separate the plural suffix from the base with letters, numbers (notably dates), symbols, abbreviations, and words used metalinguistically ... This practice is less common than it used to be; with dates and abbreviations ending with an upper case letter, the form without the apostrophe is now more usual ...}}</ref> Many guides recommend apostrophes whether the single letters are lowercase (as in "[[Mind your Ps and Qs|minding your p's and q's]]") or uppercase (as in "A's and S's").<ref name="Hart apostrophe">{{cite book |quote=In plural forms of a single letter an apostrophe can sometimes be clearer ... A's and S's ... minding your p's and q's ... |page=182 |title=New Hart's Rules: The Oxford Style Guide |edition=2nd |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199570027}}</ref> ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'' recommends the apostrophe of plurality only for lowercase letters.<ref>{{cite book |quote=To aid comprehension, lowercase letters form the plural with an apostrophe and an ''s''. ... the three Rs ... x's and y's |title=The Chicago Manual of Style |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=2010 |isbn=9780226104201 |edition=16th |page=353}}</ref> Sometimes, adding just ''s'' rather than ''<nowiki />'s'' may leave meaning ambiguous or presentation inelegant. However, an apostrophe is not always the preferred solution.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.apostrophe.org.uk/page4.html |title=Frequently Asked Questions |website=The Apostrophe Protection Society |access-date=2 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191201114812/https://www.apostrophe.org.uk/page4.html |archive-date=1 December 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[APA style]] requires the use of italics instead of an apostrophe: ''p''s, ''n''s, etc.<ref>{{cite book |title=Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association |publisher=American Psychological Association |edition=6th |date=2010 |location=Washington, DC |pages=110 |isbn=9781433805615 |url=https://archive.org/details/publicationmanua00ame_451}}</ref>

In the phrase ''dos and don'ts'', most modern style guides disparage spelling the first word as ''do's''. However, there is a lack of consensus and certainly the use of an apostrophe continues, legitimately, in which "the apostrophe of plurality occurs in the first word but not the second".<ref name=OxComp18/>