Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
ex. OS (Operative System) in PLURAL
English answer:
OS or OSs
Added to glossary by
VICTOR PRIETO
May 12, 2018 18:00
6 yrs ago
6 viewers *
English term
Peru
15+ years in Technical-Scientific field
Native in: Spanish (Variants: Latin American, Peruvian)
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English
ex. OS (Operative System) in PLURAL
English
Art/Literary
Linguistics
Plural of acronyms ending in \
And, What to do in the case of acronyms ending in "S" like OS for example? "Many OS's" or "many OSs"?, and what if it is a plural possesive like "the OSs's function" or OS's' " ?
Which is the correct rule and the source of it?
PD :"OS" (Operative System) is only an example. I need a rule to use to other objects named with acronyms ending in S.
Thank you
Which is the correct rule and the source of it?
PD :"OS" (Operative System) is only an example. I need a rule to use to other objects named with acronyms ending in S.
Thank you
Responses
| 4 +3 | OS or OSs |
Patricia Blanco
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References
| Ref. |
Taña Dalglish
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Change log
May 13, 2018 08:13: Thomas Pfann changed "Language pair" from "Spanish to English" to "English" , "Field (write-in)" from "Plural of acronyms ending in \\\"S\\\"" to "Plural of acronyms ending in \\"
Responses
+3
6 mins
Patricia Blanco
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Chartered linguist, translator & tutor
Native in: Spanish (Variant: Standard-Spain) 
, Catalan 
Works in: Catalan to Spanish, English to Spanish, Galician to Spanish, and 11 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
OS or OSs
The below will break down the various considerations based on the Amglish (American English/US language/American language), and English language (British English/England language). :)
OS = Operating System (Example Sentences = Microsoft Windows XP is an operating system. Microsoft Windows XP is an OS. This operating system is not free. This OS is not free.)
OSs = Operating Systems (Example Sentence = There are many operating systems in the world; such as DOS, Atari, Macintosh, Unix, Centos, Windows 8, and many dozens more, if not hundreds. There are many OSs in the world.)
OS's references something belonging to a single operating system.
OSs would correctly reflect proper grammar for a plural abbreviation of operating systems. Know that you will find OS being used as a plural form too; such as "some of these OS are no longer being supported". Based on the above logic, it is preferred to be "some of these OSs are no longer being supported".
For the rest:
Use apostrophes for plurals of abbreviations that have capital letters and periods: M.D.'s, C.P.A.'s. Also use apostrophes for plurals formed from single letters: He received A's and B's on his report card.
Hope this helps a little bit. :)
OS = Operating System (Example Sentences = Microsoft Windows XP is an operating system. Microsoft Windows XP is an OS. This operating system is not free. This OS is not free.)
OSs = Operating Systems (Example Sentence = There are many operating systems in the world; such as DOS, Atari, Macintosh, Unix, Centos, Windows 8, and many dozens more, if not hundreds. There are many OSs in the world.)
OS's references something belonging to a single operating system.
OSs would correctly reflect proper grammar for a plural abbreviation of operating systems. Know that you will find OS being used as a plural form too; such as "some of these OS are no longer being supported". Based on the above logic, it is preferred to be "some of these OSs are no longer being supported".
For the rest:
Use apostrophes for plurals of abbreviations that have capital letters and periods: M.D.'s, C.P.A.'s. Also use apostrophes for plurals formed from single letters: He received A's and B's on his report card.
Hope this helps a little bit. :)
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Muriel Vasconcellos
: And just as a side note, I always try to avoid the possessive apostrophe with abbreviations. In fact, the possessive "'s" is widely overused, IMHO.
29 mins
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| agree |
Taña Dalglish
: Muriel makes a very good point.
43 mins
|
| agree |
Jack Doughty
14 hrs
|
| neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: when quoting, as here, you should include the link so full explanation can be seen: http://technotes.whw1.com/computer-related/operating-systems...
2 days 15 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Reference comments
11 mins
Taña Dalglish
Jamaica
Jamaica
Native in English
&
English
Jamaica
Translating the Ideas Behind the Words
Native in: English (Variant: British)
Works in: Spanish to English, English to Spanish, French to English, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
8
Reference:
Ref.
I think Patricia could have just provided the link which would have made it easier (I am, of course, assuming that is where she got the information), and with more information:
http://technotes.whw1.com/computer-related/operating-systems...
http://technotes.whw1.com/computer-related/operating-systems...
Peer comments on this reference comment:
| agree |
Patricia Blanco
: Just trying to help summarising what's related to the question, and added a last bit for the other question for general rules. True, I could have posted the link as well for the first question. Did it quickly and didn't attach it.
9 mins
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Thanks Patricia. I provided as the Asker specifically requested the source, but thanks. I will agree with your proposal.
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| agree |
MPGS
: :-)
26 mins
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Thank you MPGS.
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Discussion
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/55970/plurals-of...
https://data.grammarbook.com/blog/apostrophes/apostrophes-wi...
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/punctuation/apostrophe
Note: A common error both in English and Spanish is the use of the apostrophe to denote the plural form, e.g. CD's. This is plain wrong, or certainly, I am not one who advocates this usage.
Besides, I would like to know how to write the possesive way for that type of acronymes plurals ending in S.
Thank you for your answers