我們來(lái)看看一組問(wèn)答以便理解：

What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym?

縮略詞復(fù)數(shù)形式的正確寫(xiě)法是什么？

For example, if I wanted to write the equivalent of

例如，如果我想寫(xiě)與下面這句話等價(jià)的話，

There are many automated teller machines in this city. 這城市里有很多自動(dòng)提款機(jī)。

Would it be

是應(yīng)該寫(xiě)成

There are many ATMs in this city.

or

還是

There are many ATMs in this city.

(could get confused with possessive form or contraction).

（會(huì)和所有格混淆，與縮略語(yǔ)）

or just

還是簡(jiǎn)單地這么寫(xiě)

There are many ATM in this city.

(assuming the final s is included in Machines represented by M).

（假定最后的s是包含在Machines 里，由“M”這個(gè)詞來(lái)代表）

Maybe something else?

或者還有其他寫(xiě)法？

……

回答是：

The Chicago Manual of Style has an interesting way to address this: They omit the apostrophe, unless there are periods in the abbreviation. So this would give you ATMs, or alternately A.T.M.s. (A.T.M.s looks weird.)

《芝加哥格式手冊(cè)》中有一個(gè)有趣的方法來(lái)處理這種情況：他們一般省略掉單引號(hào)，除非這個(gè)縮略語(yǔ)中含有句點(diǎn)符號(hào)“.”。所以，對(duì)于你的問(wèn)題，應(yīng)該寫(xiě)作ATMs，或者用另一種寫(xiě)法 A.T.M.s（而A.T.M.s看起來(lái)太奇怪了）

* 注：芝加哥格式是國(guó)外指導(dǎo)論文中引用條目時(shí)寫(xiě)法的幾種規(guī)范之一。

Some web page indicates that acronyms ending in the letter "S" get an apostrophe, something Ive seen before, but cant find in a general reference. So one would write ATMs and SOSs.

一些網(wǎng)頁(yè)上指出以“S”結(jié)尾的縮略語(yǔ)應(yīng)該加上一個(gè)單引號(hào)，我看到過(guò)，但我找不到一個(gè)通用的參考。所以你應(yīng)該寫(xiě)ATMs 和SOSs。

This page on the North Carolina State University website references APs rule as being to always use an apostrophe.

這個(gè)北卡州立大學(xué)的網(wǎng)站上引用了AP規(guī)則來(lái)指定縮略語(yǔ)的復(fù)數(shù)都要有一個(gè)單引號(hào)。

* 注：APs rule指的是一種規(guī)范新聞中寫(xiě)法的規(guī)約。

The 2009 AP Stylebooks "plurals" entry has no section on acronyms, but mentions "VIPs", I cant find anything addressing how to specifically pluralize acronyms. (The "abbreviations and acronyms" section is also of no help.)

2009年AP風(fēng)格手冊(cè)中的“復(fù)數(shù)”一詞沒(méi)有提到縮略語(yǔ)的章節(jié)，但是提到過(guò)“VIPs”，我找不到如何處理特殊的縮略語(yǔ)復(fù)數(shù)形式的內(nèi)容。（“縮寫(xiě)和首字母縮略語(yǔ)”這一節(jié)也沒(méi)有幫助）

Personally, I omit using apostrophes unless I cant avoid it. I do use them when talking about single letters or where it would avoid confusion. (For example, SOs for "Significant Others" looks like an incorrectly capitalized SOS.)

我個(gè)人意見(jiàn)，除非無(wú)法避免的情況，我一般都省略掉單引號(hào)。在談及單個(gè)（大寫(xiě)）字母時(shí)我使用（單引號(hào)），在可能必須用來(lái)避免混淆時(shí)（我也使用單引號(hào)）。（例如，“Significant Others”如果縮寫(xiě)成“SOs”，會(huì)被人誤會(huì)成最后一個(gè)字母大小寫(xiě)寫(xiě)錯(cuò)了的SOS）

現(xiàn)在，你會(huì)選擇哪一種寫(xiě)法呢？