Comments on: Be Sure to Dot Your is! http://www.dailywritingtips.com/be-sure-to-dot-your-is/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:41:25 +0000 hourly 1 By: Brandon http://www.dailywritingtips.com/be-sure-to-dot-your-is/comment-page-1/#comment-390228 Brandon Fri, 19 Aug 2011 04:56:14 +0000 http://www.dailywritingtips.com/?p=1416#comment-390228 Hello. I'm wondering if this would be a more . . . preferable solution to your quotation solution: Dot your -Is and cross your -Ps. Maybe even combining the similar technique of italicizing the title of a novel and leaving the pluralizing -S in Roman type. So: Dot your <i>-I</i>s and cross your <i>-T</i>s. The hyphen connecting a letter would be the indicator that what is connected to it is a letter-as-a-noun, and the italics would help make it more . . . obvious that the <i>-s</i> is the plural morpheme. What say you? Hello.

I’m wondering if this would be a more . . . preferable solution to your quotation solution:

Dot your -Is and cross your -Ps. Maybe even combining the similar technique of italicizing the title of a novel and leaving the pluralizing -S in Roman type.

So:

Dot your -Is and cross your -Ts.

The hyphen connecting a letter would be the indicator that what is connected to it is a letter-as-a-noun, and the italics would help make it more . . . obvious that the -s is the plural morpheme.

What say you?

]]> By: Maeve http://www.dailywritingtips.com/be-sure-to-dot-your-is/comment-page-1/#comment-199635 Maeve Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:34:05 +0000 http://www.dailywritingtips.com/?p=1416#comment-199635 jb, Please tell me where to look in the OED for forming the plural of the letter i as ies. All I could find in the big OED is: <i>Illustrations of the literary use of the letter:    a. simply. (The plural appears as Is, I's, is, i's.)</i> Ask Oxford has this: <i>in the plurals of single letters: 
There are only three s's in `Christmases'. 
Mind your p's and q's. 
(Even here, the capital letter would not need the apostrophe.)</i> Thanks. jb,
Please tell me where to look in the OED for forming
the plural of the letter i as ies.

All I could find in the big OED is:
Illustrations of the literary use of the letter:    a. simply. (The plural appears as Is, I’s, is, i’s.)

Ask Oxford has this:
in the plurals of single letters: 
There are only three s’s in `Christmases’. 
Mind your p’s and q’s. 
(Even here, the capital letter would not need the apostrophe.)

Thanks.

]]> By: jb http://www.dailywritingtips.com/be-sure-to-dot-your-is/comment-page-1/#comment-199518 jb Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:20:56 +0000 http://www.dailywritingtips.com/?p=1416#comment-199518 according to the oxford english dictionary, the plural of i would be ies. according to the oxford english dictionary, the plural of i would be ies.

]]> By: Al G. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/be-sure-to-dot-your-is/comment-page-1/#comment-69677 Al G. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:15:15 +0000 http://www.dailywritingtips.com/?p=1416#comment-69677 I have referred to Roy Copperud's Dictionary of Usage and Style (copyright 1964) for years, at the suggestion of a journalist. Copperud said that "conservative usage" still calls for apostophes to indicate the plural of a letter, sign, symbol or other non-word but there was (in 1964) a strong trend away from it. An inflexible rule calling for the omission of apostrophes can lead to trouble now and then, as an As, which comes out more intelligently as A's. He argued against inflexible rules. I have referred to Roy Copperud’s Dictionary of Usage and Style (copyright 1964) for years, at the suggestion of a journalist. Copperud said that “conservative usage” still calls for apostophes to indicate the plural of a letter, sign, symbol or other non-word but there was (in 1964) a strong trend away from it. An inflexible rule calling for the omission of apostrophes can lead to trouble now and then, as an As, which comes out more intelligently as A’s. He argued against inflexible rules.

]]> By: Grace S. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/be-sure-to-dot-your-is/comment-page-1/#comment-69375 Grace S. Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:55:33 +0000 http://www.dailywritingtips.com/?p=1416#comment-69375 Bryce (#7), those would be "Elvises," since "Elvis's" would be a possessive and whatever Elvis owned would have to follow. Punctuation, grammar, and spelling rules, when followed and understood, absolutely contribute to more precise communication! Bryce (#7), those would be “Elvises,” since “Elvis’s” would be a possessive and whatever Elvis owned would have to follow. Punctuation, grammar, and spelling rules, when followed and understood, absolutely contribute to more precise communication!

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