'Letters as letters', 'words as words'

Question

Aside from italics, is it okay (especially in British English) to denote the plurals of 'letters as letters', 'numbers and numbers' and 'words as words' as I've done below? Also, I'm aware of doing it like this—a's, 8's, etc.

Are these okay with single markers on each side?

Harold's 'a's look like '8's.
too many 'whereas's and 'maybe's

Thank you.

Also see What is the proper way to write the plural of a single letter? (another apostrophe question), and Plurals of acronyms, letters, numbers — use an apostrophe or not?, — James Waldby - jwpat7, Apr 06 '13 at 04:51

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 06 '13 at 07:47

2

Well, yes, you could do that, but why look for trouble? You can avoid any difficulty with:

Harold writes ‘a’ the same way as he writes ‘8’.
‘Whereas’ and ‘maybe’ occur too often.

answered Apr 06 '13 at 07:47

Barrie England

140,205

More than one 'p' and more than one 'q' should be minded by you. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 06 '13 at 13:15
@Edwin Ashworth. There's no alternative in that case, but there is in the OP's. – Barrie England Apr 06 '13 at 14:40
I was just looking for trouble. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 06 '13 at 16:45

'Letters as letters', 'words as words'

1 Answers1