1. BBUK14's Avatar
    I am writing this to make the world a better place. I was just on BlackBerry World, and saw the D and R notifications described as D's and R's.

    For the sake of the civilised world, let us all remember that such a plural is made with an 's', not an apostrophe (') and an 's'.

    To be clear, it is Ds and Rs, not D's and R's!

    Spread the word and help us rid the world of poor punctuation!

    By the way, the same goes for years folks!

    It's 'the 1950s' and NOT the '1950's'!

    Okay...I'm done. Continue with what you were doing.

    Posted via CB10
    Carterbits likes this.
    02-13-14 12:50 PM
  2. akawarrior's Avatar
    English teacher right? Just messing with ya's.. lol
    02-13-14 12:56 PM
  3. dayno25's Avatar
    And they say forums are just a place for people to complain

    SQN100-3; 10.2.1.1925
    02-13-14 12:59 PM
  4. early2bed's Avatar
    Thank's for clearing that up.
    Elite1 likes this.
    02-13-14 01:04 PM
  5. eldricho's Avatar
    Good to know

    Posted via CB10
    02-13-14 01:10 PM
  6. Elite1's Avatar
    Sometimes for clarity's sake you might bend a grammar rule here and there. When you write "Ds" it looks like you mistyped an acronym.

    I believe the consensus is that an apostrophe is correct grammar for pluralizing single letters. Per Oxford Dictionaries Online:
    Apostrophes and plural forms

    The general rule is that you should not use an apostrophe to form the plurals of nouns, abbreviations, or dates made up of numbers: just add -s (or -es, if the noun in question forms its plural with - es). For example:

    ...
    MP MPs (e.g. Local MPs are divided on this issue.)

    1990 1990s (e.g. The situation was different in the 1990s.)

    It's very important to remember this grammatical rule.

    There are one or two cases in which it is acceptable to use an apostrophe to form a plural, purely for the sake of clarity:
    * you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single letters:
    I've dotted the i's and crossed the t's. Find all the p's in appear.
    * you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single numbers:
    Find all the number 7’s.
    eldricho and shaleem like this.
    02-13-14 01:13 PM
  7. BBUK14's Avatar
    I can see the argument (if I'm being generous) for the single letter apostrophe mentioned in the OED reference you provided, but with capital letters it isn't necessary and looks silly, and makes no sense. It's a matter of style at the end of the day sometimes, but with capital letters and numbers I think I'm too conservative to approve. Even with lower case letters I think it should be deemed incorrect, but the OED is a descriptive grammar and not a prescriptive one, and tends to be more liberal than otherwise.

    Oh, and yes, I do teach English along with doing a few other things, so please forgive the pedantry. Class dismissed lol. (Yeah, I thought I'd finish with a 'lol'. Grammar freaks get on my nerves.

    Posted via CB10
    02-13-14 01:34 PM
  8. john_v's Avatar
    Importance of punctuation:

    Let's eat, Grandpa!
    Vs.
    Let's eat Grandpa!

    Posted via CB10
    02-13-14 09:37 PM
  9. ArmedHitman's Avatar
    Sometimes for clarity's sake you might bend a grammar rule here and there. When you write "Ds" it looks like you mistyped an acronym.

    I believe the consensus is that an apostrophe is correct grammar for pluralizing single letters. Per Oxford Dictionaries Online:
    All I got from that was... Damn you got burned LOL.

    Posted via CB10
    02-13-14 09:51 PM
  10. MrGlenn's Avatar
    Not to mention that referring to the D and R icons/system in plural form is already silly. I mean there is only of each, right?

    BlackBerry 10 signed.
    02-13-14 10:09 PM
  11. zed_10's Avatar
    I would have thought that it was just D and R, that the plural goes to message(s).....of course R and D would be something else yet...

    Posted via CB10
    02-13-14 10:25 PM
  12. raw_dog's Avatar
    I am writing this to make the world a better place. I was just on BlackBerry World, and saw the D and R notifications described as D's and R's.

    For the sake of the civilised world, let us all remember that such a plural is made with an 's', not an apostrophe (') and an 's'.

    To be clear, it is Ds and Rs, not D's and R's!

    Spread the word and help us rid the world of poor punctuation!

    By the way, the same goes for years folks!

    It's 'the 1950s' and NOT the '1950's'!

    Okay...I'm done. Continue with what you were doing.

    Posted via CB10
    If that is the only thing wrong with BlackBerry World, I think that is a positive.

    Posted via CB10
    Elite1 likes this.
    02-13-14 10:31 PM
  13. RyanGermann's Avatar
    Ok, can we put others here too?

    "should of". No, when you hear what sounds like "should of" you're actually hearing a contraction of "should have" that sounds like "should of" but is spelled "should've". Same as "could of" or "would of".

    Oh, and when you say "I could care less" you're dropping a very IMPORTANT contraction, the "n't"... it's "I couldn't care less". If you say "I could care less" you're saying "I care". If you DON'T care, you HAVE to say "I could not care less" because you're saying "I care so little that it would be impossible for me to care less than I do".

    The most important thing for me is that CrackBerry is an international site with lots of great contributors for whom English is not their first language, so sometimes, it's a matter of translating what one has heard a lot into what one types into a text box. This isn't about accusing people of being INCAPABLE of learning... here's an example from my personal life (it's true and funny and really stupid).

    For years I thought the word pronounced "eh-pit-oh-me" and the word spelled "epitome" (pronounced "ehp-ih-tome" were TWO DIFFERENT WORDS THAT MEANT THE SAME THING (where the first was used in "spoken language" and the latter was written). A friend called me out on it and laughed his head off, and after a few moments of resentment I started laughing too, because THAT is downright idiotic. So, live and learn.
    Elite1 likes this.
    02-28-14 10:42 AM
  14. knighty2112's Avatar
    Punktuashun an' grandmar. Too most impor'ant fings in Inglish sporken tungue.

    (just kidding. I can speak und right proper I can!)
    ; )

    Z10 In action here!
    Elite1 likes this.
    02-28-14 11:08 AM
  15. grover5's Avatar
    To lose something is to misplace it. Loose means not tight. I see people use loose in place of lose all the time and it drives me crazy.

    Posted via CB10
    Elite1 likes this.
    02-28-14 11:30 AM
  16. kbz1960's Avatar
    Public service announcement. For a lot of people English is not their native language, interpreters mess things up too.
    shaleem likes this.
    02-28-14 11:47 AM
  17. Carterbits's Avatar
    Sometimes for clarity's sake you might bend a grammar rule here and there. When you write "Ds" it looks like you mistyped an acronym.

    I believe the consensus is that an apostrophe is correct grammar for pluralizing single letters. Per Oxford Dictionaries Online:
    As a conservative grammarian, I must (light-heartedly) disagree.

    "Acceptable" and "can" don't really imply a primary standard / consensus. Rather, the opposite is the case. Using a single capital letter followed by a lower-case s is the standard. The only generally accepted exception to this is when a misreading might occur, such as when beginning a sentence, i.e. "I's must be dotted when written in lower-case."

    I just had to join in the fun. I've taught English for years in multiple countries, and majored in Spanish before I got bitten by the programming bug. I will always love language discussions though, whether they be human or computer-based. =D

    Download Noted, my 5-star rated, native BB10 notepad app.
    Last edited by Carterbits; 02-28-14 at 09:19 PM.
    02-28-14 12:19 PM
  18. nappp's Avatar
    So funny

    Posted via CB10
    02-28-14 12:26 PM

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