I'm at a loss, need help on plural in abbreviation form?

Question

IPS is Individual Packing Standard
so plural is Individual Packing Standards

What is the plural form in abbreviation? Is it IPS' or IPSs?

I'm so confused. Thank you!

Answer 1

IPS'. When making words that end in s plural, we always add an ' but never add another s.

Answer 2

Technically, "IPSs."



Never, ever use an apostrophe UNLESS in this case. There are only two instances in which to use an apostrophe. One is for possessives. You could say "The Standard's rules require that..." The other is for contractions--as in "isn't" or "won't."



What you've got is a word (or acronym): IPS. To indicate that it's plural, you'd add an "s." (There are some words in English in which you'd add an "es"--as in "box...boxes." But the preferred style with an acronym would just be to add "s."



However...make sure that the singular really is "Standard." There are many acronyms in which the final word is plural. And just doing a quick online search, most packaging standards are "standards" with an "s." I ran into relatively few such documents that refer to a single standard. Usually, in that case, you'd say something like "Item 54(a) of the Individual Packing Standards requires that..." or "Item 54(a) of the IPS requires that..."



Hope that helps.

Answer 3

You would only use an apostrophe to show possessive simply in plural form IPSs will work fine.

Answer 4

IPSs