Diana Hacker’s “Rules For Writers” says this: Words mentioned as words may appear in quotation marks. When you choose this option, use the apostrophe. Hacker’s example: We’ve heard enough “maybe’s.” ————————— Based on Hacker’s guidance above and her example, are the examples below 100% correct? ...too many “his’s,” “was’s,” “as’s,” “is’s,” “to’s,” “yes’s,” “no’s,” “maybe’s,” “I love you’s,” “whereas’s,” “ass’s,” “which’s,” “why’s,” “wherefore’s,” “thank-you’s,” “to be continued’s,” “much obliged’s,” “but’s,” “and’s,” “or’s,” “if’s,” in his thesis... Good below, too, per Hacker’s guidance above? ...punctuating their sentences with “er's,” “um’s,” “oh’s,” “ooh’s,” “ah's,” “uh's,” “y’know’s,” “y’see’s,” “I mean’s,” “that is’s,” “as it were’s,” “Oh, God!’s,” and “so to speak’s” ... There were too many “how do you do?’s” and “ahem!’s” in her testimony. (Good?) Is this one below punctuated correctly? The prosecutor said, “There were too many ‘how do you do?’s’ and ‘ahem!’s’ in her testimony.” (Good?) I believe that every example above is correct in accordance with Hacker’s guidance. Do you agree? Yes or no? Thank you.
This feels deeply wrong. Maybe I'm reacting as a programmer, but it just feels so wrong. Is she US or UK or somewhere else? It's reminding me of the US versus UK rules about periods inside quotes.
This strikes me as one of those things that is never really going to look right to everyone, and has no standard rules. These do look weird to me, but then I can't find a way to make them not look weird
Do these look better, by italicizing the root word but not the apostrophe + s that follows? Do you prefer this version to the one with the quote marks around the words? …an excessive number of had’s, has’s, his’s, is’s, was’s, as’s, she’s, he’s, him’s, her’s, to be continued’s, much obliged’s, bitch’s, ass’s, whereas’s, none’s, never’s, yes’s, no’s, so-so’s, maybe’s, and’s, but’s, or’s, if’s, which’s, bitch’s, hello’s, good-bye’s, thank-you’s, I love you’s, I do’s, how-to’s, hiss’s, and do’s and don’ts
