Monday Afternoon Grammar

[Matt H]

Part of a sentence I received via email this morning:

 

I’ve counted the number of yes’s and no’s

 

At first glance, this use of the apostrophes looks wrong. However, changing them around so the sentence reads…

 

I’ve counted the number of yes’ and nos.

 

…would also appear wrong.

 

Looking on the net, yes’s and no’s appears to be an exception to the usual rules and is considered by some, correct.

 

According to Cambridge's Dictionary, the actual plurals of yes and no are:

 

Yeses and Noes

[peter richards]

the apostrophe is in instead of the e

[stevie_b]

It probably should be "yeses and noes". Hmmm, what are the collective nouns for a yes and no respectively? Stricly speaking I don't think they should have apostrophes but leaving them out will probably lead to more confusion than including them.

[hiten55]

and you're point is....?

 

see what i did their?

 

and again

[Digsy]

Without checking anywhere I would assume by normal rules that the plurals of "yes" and "no" were "yesses" and "nos". "yes's" would therefore be a contraction of "yesses". I don't know if putting the apostrophe after the "s" is valid for anything other than the possesive case, though? "no's" isn't strictly correct either, as the apostrophe doesn't replace any omitted letters. Technically "no's" isn't a contration at all.

 

*edit" I didn't think of "noes" as the plural of "no". In that case "no's" would also be OK.

 

Oh noes!

[ellis]

Apostrophes are never used for plurals, only possessives. No's would never be right I'm afraid. It's the same when people say the 1980's - that's wrong - it's the 1980s - plural not possessive.

[Matt H]

Without checking anywhere I would assume by normal rules that the plurals of "yes" and "no" were "yesses" and "nos". "yes's" would therefore be a contraction of "yesses". I don't know if putting the apostrophe after the "s" is valid for anything other than the possesive case, though? "no's" isn't strictly correct either, as the apostrophe doesn't replace any omitted letters. Technically "no's" isn't a contration at all.

 

*edit" I didn't think of "noes" as the plural of "no". In that case "no's" would also be OK.

 

Oh noes!

 

No's is not correct as that would suggest the word 'no' owns something else, which it doesn't. Apostrophes are only used to denote possesion when removing the 'e' - not the case for plurals.

 

the apostrophe is in instead of the e

 

 

See above

[tbourner]

Apostrophes are never used for plurals, only possessives. No's would never be right I'm afraid. It's the same when people say the 1980's - that's wrong - it's the 1980s - plural not possessive.

 

 

I would say your change to:

I’ve counted the number of yes’ and nos

is correct. I would also pronounce it as 'yes' and 'nose' (as opposed to 'yesses').

[Matt H]

 

I would say your change to:

I’ve counted the number of yes’ and nos

is correct. I would also pronounce it as 'yes' and 'nose' (as opposed to 'yesses').

 

They don't look right though do they, which led me to finding out the plurals are yeses and noes.

[Matt H]

P.s, a lot of members are putting an extra 's' in yeses to make yesses, which is not correct. It's just es, not ses to make the plural.

[GJD]

isn't a contration at all.

 

ITYM "isn't a contra'tion at all"

[ellis]

An apostrophe after yes would imply a possessive of a plural, which it's not!

 

Noes and yeses is grammatically correct. Apparently, according to the World Wide Porn Storage Vessel, yesses is also acceptable - but not to me! Not the way I was taught that's for sure!

[Snooze]

We use an apostrophe to create plural forms in two limited situations: for pluralized letters of the alphabet and when we are trying to create the plural form of a word that refers to the word itself.

 

http://punctilious.org/grammar/plurals.htm

[ellis]

We use an apostrophe to create plural forms in two limited situations: for pluralized letters of the alphabet and when we are trying to create the plural form of a word that refers to the word itself.

 

As said, a possessive of a plural, nothing else!

[Matt H]

An apostrophe after yes would imply a possessive of a plural, which it's not!

 

Not always.

 

If a word ends in s, then putting an apostrophe on the end can make it plural, without denoting possesion, but you're right, most of the time you put es.

[stevie_b]

If a word ends in s, then putting an apostrophe on the end can make it plural, without denoting possesion

 

I disagree. Do you have an example (other than "yes" )

[AndrewOW]

The plural of yes is yeses, and the plural of no is noes.

 

I know that, cos I looked it up in my big internet book of info. So now you noes.

[Snooze]

As said, a possessive of a plural, nothing else!

 

No - no "possesive" here.

 

The examples in the article are:

 

* Jeffrey got four A's on his last report card.

* Towanda learned very quickly to mind her p's and q's.

* You have fifteen and's in that last paragraph.

[Thorin]

The plural of yes is yeses, and the plural of no is noes.

 

I know that, cos I looked it up in my big internet book of info. So now you noes.

 

Correct sir, no other alternative is correct.

[ellis]

Not always.

 

If a word ends in s, then putting an apostrophe on the end can make it plural, without denoting possesion, but you're right, most of the time you put es.

 

No mate, it can't. You'd only put an apostrophes on there if it was a plural possessive, such as "The cars' doors were all open" Plural of cars, the doors of the cars.

[Matt H]

I disagree. Do you have an example (other than "yes" )

 

Abbreviations.

 

UFO's for example

[AndrewOW]

Abbreviations.

 

UFO's for example

 

 

The UFO's what? Its engine? Its shape?

[Max Headroom]

"I have counted the times someone has said yes and the times someone has said no", then there would be no requirement for this thread HTH

[Snooze]

Erm - that's not a word that ends in 's', Matt.....

[ellis]

Abbreviations.

 

UFO's for example

 

That's not an abbreviation, it would be a possessive, not a plural.

 

Plural would purely be UFOs.