Plural acronyms apostrophe

Using acronyms and abbreviations is convenient, but it can also be a bit confusing figuring out how to properly convert these shortened versions of words or phrases to plural form. Discover basic rules for forming plural acronyms and plural abbreviations.

An acronym is a group of letters where each letter stands for a specific word in a phrase. True acronyms are pronounced as if they are words (for example: laser). Initialisms are a bit different, but are treated the same as acronyms.

Plural acronyms in parentheses

They are formed the same and become plural the same way, but are pronounced as individual letters rather than sounding like a word (For example: RBI).

• Most acronyms are easy to convert to the plural form simply by adding the letter s to the end.

• This can become more complex when the last letter in the acronym is already an s.

For acronyms that end in a letter other than an s, simply add a lowercase s after the last letter.

In other words, simply follow the ordinary procedure for most nouns.