Is it gramatically correct to pluralise acronyms with an apostrophe? E.g. NPC's or NPCs?

Question

I've seen apostrophes used in this fashion before enough times that I wanted to ask. Thank you for your confirmations.

Answer 1

There are two schools on this. Those of us who are older than dirt were taught to use an apostrophe to form the plural of a series of capital letters. That was before the world became inundated with just letters - no names. Modern practice is to just add the lower case 's'. There are still some holdouts who use the apostrophe. That's not wrong. Old fashioned - yes: obsolescent - yes; wrong - no. The same holds true for years - "the 1900's" (less used, but still correct) versus "the 1900s" (newer, gaining ground).

There are still some places where the apostrophe DOES form the plural: 'Mind your p's and q's!" and "He had three that's in his sentence." Plurals of individual letters and plurals of words used as words (figure that one out for yourself or see the reference) still require the apostrophe per the Government Printing Office Style Manual.

Answer 2

Npc Acronym

Answer 3

Rule 1 of apostrophes:
Never use an apostrophe to make a plural.
Rule 2 of apostrophes:
Read Rule 1 again and make sure you understand it.

Some people say that the apostrophe represents letters omitted in the abbreviation therefore you should have an apostrophe before the "s". If you don't use an apostrophe in the singular for omitted letters, there is no reason to use one in the plural. If you are happy with TV, CD, PC, DVD etc then just add an "s" for the plural. Remember Rule 1.

Answer 4

NPCs would be correct.

The usual rules still apply and an apostrophe implies possession. I know a lot of people get this wrong and would write NPC's and unfortunately the more you see it, the more correct it seems!

Answer 5

I've seen it both ways, and done it both ways myself. Grammatically speaking, probably without the apostrophe is correct, as the apostrophe suggests ownership (the NPC's cat, for instance).

Answer 6

In most cases no. However it may be allowed in certain special cases to avoid confusion, such as where the acronym ends with a letter S, or when the acronym contains periods.

In your example NPCs would be correct.

Answer 7

Take from someone who graded a lot of papers: An apostrophe denotes ownership. The man's house. The woman's house, etc.
It can be used in a contraction it is becomes it's.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

No. Apostrophes are never used to pluralize anything, acronyms included.
NPCs is correct.

Answer 10

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