Why is it that people use apostrophe and the letter 's' when refering to the plural form of a word?ex. CD's

Question

It is freakin annoying. They'd go "I bought three CD's yesterday." Apostrophe S signifies ownership. It just doesnt make sense. You should say "Those cds are maria's." rather than "Those cd's are maria's." Why?

Answer 1

When it comes to creating the plural of abbreviations, numbers, or single letters, the use of an apostrophe really is up for debate. Some grammarians believe it is a sin to use the apostrophe; others say you need it in order to make the sentences readable. (Case in point: “cds” gives pause when trying to read your example; worse yet, consider this one: “The teacher does not give out many as to her students.”)

When it is not necessary (e.g., “CDs” is pretty easy to understand when reading), I will not use it; if it brings clarity or enhances readability, I opt for the apostrophe, and some will say it’s wrong.

When talking about grammar, it is easy to forget that the chief purposes of grammar are to relay meaning and to create understanding; if we choose steadfast obedience to our “knowledge” of grammatical rules over the act of effectively relaying information in order to communicate, we are doing more harm than good.

Answer 2

I would say that before you cast the grammar stone, you should make sure you did not commit a grammar sin first :)

CD - not cd - is an abbreviation, so before you go postal on the people who use an apostrophe, you have to capitalize the appropriate abbreviation first :)

On to the answer:

CD's and CDs mean the exact same thing. You also use an apostrophe to form some plurals, especially numbers and letters (e.g. 1970's, straight A's, "Don't forget to dot your i's"). However, many people simply prefer to not use an apostrophe, but in these cases, they should definitely capitalize the word (e.g CDs) and not use "cds" because they simply become non-words.

Answer 3

Because they simply don't know any better.

What they don't seem to realize is that they only succeed in confusing themselves further. I'm trying to teach kids the difference between plurals and possessives, but they're finding it so difficult because of the incorrect examples they see everywhere they go. I can't stand it. (The incorrect usage, not the poor kids --- I don't blame them for being confused at this point.)

Breeze hasn't a clue. For one thing, "CD" is short for "compact disc." And the apostrophe is not standing in place for any missing characters. In other words, "CDs" is not a contraction. It's the plural form of "CD."

You should give D-Train best answer. D-Train's smart.

Answer 4

The style manuals do not totally agree on this. Several years ago, the majority said 'use apostrophe + s' for plurals of acronyms. Today, this is in the minority. The use of apostrophe + s may be old fashioned and obsolecent, but it is not wrong.

Answer 5

I suppose it's to show that CD's is an abbreviation of the words Compaq disk. The apostrophe indicates missing letters.

Answer 6

I don't know why but THANK YOU THANK YOU for asking. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who still remembered grade school english class, or did they change the rules since I was in school.