Author Topic: Irregular plurals (Read 1236 times)

rivka · « **on:** August 02, 2006, 02:56:40 PM »

The exception to the no-apostrophes-in-plurals rule, as I understand it, is supposed to be for numbers and other cases where it might be confusing without the divider.

But what is the plural of Dr. (used as a title)? Clearly, no one at my kids' pediatricians' office knows, as they spelled it differently on each posted notice. They tried

Dr.'s
Drs.
Drs
Dr's
and I think there might have been another

(Why they didn't simply write Doctors I do not know.)

What is the correct form(s)?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1 on:** August 02, 2006, 05:00:29 PM »

Chicago says that abbreviations containing no internal periods are pluralized by adding s before the period, which means that it should be "Drs." I'm not sure what other style guides say. However, I'm all for "Doctors."

rivka · « **Reply #2 on:** August 02, 2006, 05:05:51 PM »

I was leaning toward Drs. Nice to know I was not simply pulling that out of . . . well, it wasn't that kind of doctor.

Sheila · « **Reply #3 on:** August 03, 2006, 05:54:51 AM »

Oh, good. I got that one right!

Mr. Anderson · « **Reply #4 on:** August 03, 2006, 07:29:32 AM »

Yay! I win, too.