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Previously, I asked a question about whether I should omit the article, "the" before the late 80s.
I saw in the answer by Absolute Beginner that he writes '80s for Eighties, the apostrophe is added before the numeral, i.e. 80s. Lawrence C put the apostrophe in between, i.e. 80's.
The answers have made me very confused, could you tell me which is the correct numeral for the years 1980, 1981, 1982... 1989:
80's, or '80s, or 80s ?
I always write 80s, does it mean that I am wrong?
Please help!
The ' in '80s is a placeholder for the omitted 19 in 1980s. For most people those are the only '80s relevant to their personal experience, so it is safe to omit the century.
It works in the same way as in don't for do not and it's for it is.
In my opinion, just writing 80s is fine, too.
Writing 1980's in this context is just plain wrong! feels wrong to me. As Larry Trask points out in his Guide to Punctuation, it is commonly used at least in American English.
In my opinion it would only be correct, if you wanted to describe a possessive. For something that "belongs to" 1980: So, "Hurricane Allen was 1980's first named hurricane" would be fine. It was the first named hurricane of the 1980 season. (Note, that this refers only to the year 1980, not the decade 1980s!)
So the wide use of both versions on the internet (just use your favourite search engine to find thousands of sites where 80's is used) propably is due to the differences in American and British English usage.
The apostrophe in '80s marks the omission of the century, just like an apostrophe in a contraction shows the omission letters.
The apostrophe in 80's comes from an old style rule for making plurals of numerals and letters (mind your p's and q's). This style rule has fallen out of fashion, but it was common enough that you'll still sometimes see it.
The most common correct answer nowadays would be '80s. Some might not bother with an apostrophe at all and just write 80s, but that would be less precise.
Technically, '80's would also be considered correct by adherents to the old style rule, but that could lead absurd constructions like, The '80's' biggest pop star was Michael Jackson..
The 80s' biggest pop star to cover the 80s, 80's with the apostrophe before the s would technically be something belonging to 80 alone
Nov 1 '16 at 14:20
From a strictly logical standpoint, '80s makes the most sense, using the apostrophe to mark the omission of the 19, followed by 80s as a further abbreviation that omits the apostrophe. However, I've seen 80's probably more than anything else, and very rarely see '80s.
Bottom line: In most contexts, you're good with either 80s or 80's, as long as you're consistent. If you're writing in a formal context (academic or professional) there will be a style guide to tell you which to use.
