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Punctuation
195
8.9.
Possessive indefinite or impersonal pronouns require an apostrophe.
- each other's books
- another's idea
- some others' plans
- someone's guesstimate
- one's home is his castle
8.10.
The singular possessive case is used in such general terms as the following:
- arm's length
- attorney's fees
- author's alterations
- confectioner's sugar
- cow's milk
- distiller's grain
- fuller's earth
- miner's inch
- printer's ink
- traveler's checks
- writer's cramp
8.11.
While an apostrophe is used to indicate possession and contractions, it is not generally necessary to use an apostrophe simply to show the plural form of most acronyms, initialisms, or abbreviations, except where clarity and sense demand such inclusion.
- 49ers
- TVers
- OKs
- MCing
- RIFing
- RIFs
- RIFed
- YWCAs
- ABCs
- 1920s
- IOUs
- 10s (thread)
- 4½s (bonds)
- 3s (golf)
- 2 by 4s
- IQs
- don't (do not)
- I've (I have)
- it's (it is/it has)
- ne'er (never)
- e'er (ever)
- class of '08 (2008)
- spirit of '76 (1776)
not in her '70s (age)
- better: in her seventies
not during the '90s
- better: during the 1990s or during the twenties
but
- he never crosses his t's
- she fails to dot her i's
- a's, &'s, 7's
- watch your p's and q's
- are they l's or l's
- the Oakland A's
- a number of s's
- his résumé had too many I's
