[stylist] Writing about letters of alphabet

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Donna,

I know when writing numbers you just do 1980s, but as you mention, JAWS
doesn't like this, so I usually do 1980's with the apostrophe. I believe
the same rule applies to letters when pluralizing .

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter, editor, Slate & Style
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can
satisfy, we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for
another world."
C. S. Lewis

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:20:32 -0500
From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [stylist] Question: writing about the letters of the alphabet
Message-ID: <4FA5DA648E914E0D9FE38E319619BCBD at OwnerHP>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Hi All,
OK, how do you put it in print when you're talking about the letters of
the alphabet? For instance, "When I write a g, bla, bla, bla. Or if it
were plural, "When I write my gs, ..." I'm looking for what is
considered proper grammar/spelling. I've considered having the letter in
italics, placing an apostrophe before it and, in the case of a plural,
gs would seem more correct than using an apostrophe between the letters
-- g's -- because it's not either possessive or a contraction. Jaws
likes the apostrophe, however, in terms of pronunciation. Anyway, if
anyone has a source for the standard for this, please let me know. I
haven't gotten anywhere Googling it, and I can't find it in any of the
style books I have. Thanks, Donna