English for Students

Plural of Pizza

Is there an apostrophe in the Plural of Pizza?


No. (No, no, no!) In Dutch maybe. But not in English. The regular plural in English is formed by adding s (or es for words ending in s, x, z, sh or soft ch). You should not introduce an apostrophe just because a word ends in a vowel. This is sometimes called the greengrocer's apostrophe because greengrocers were traditionally said to insert unwanted apostrophes in plural forms when giving the prices for fruit and vegetables (for example: apple's 60p per pound). An apostrophe is used in plurals in the following very special cases.


1. 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.)


2. In the plurals of abbreviations:

• We have several pg's [paying guests].

• We have received four cheques and two IOU's.

(But IOUs is common and accepted and the usual plural of CD is CDs).


Most symbols for units such as lb (pounds) and cm (centimetres) do not strictly have plural forms.


3. In the plurals of numerals:

• This house was built in the 1930's.

(But 1930s is preferable).


4. As an alternative spelling, for clarity, of the plurals of a very few short words:

• We went to several society do's last year.

• While out with his third wife he met both of his ex's.

I've had yes's for coffee from four people.

But in each case, dos, exes, yesses would be acceptable. The usual plural of no is noes.


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