Is the plural for “photo” “photo’s” or “photos”?
“Photo” is short for “photograph” so in this case it would be “photo’s”.
However, apparently “photo” is now considered its own word (meaning “photograph”) and hence, apparently, it’s spelt “photos”?
However, does this mean “photo’s” is wrong?
I hate grammar. English is my second language so any help is appreciated.
Before you ask, I have Google’d. Also, yes, this is the best place I thought to ask.
Photos without the ‘ ( apostrophe). With the apostrophe it means any word after photo is something photo has which doesn’t makes sense so plural is “Photos” no apostrophe.
Actually, one could talk about the “photo’s colour” etc.
However, is using “photo’s” as a plural wrong?
I don’t think it is. It’s short for “photographs”. Which is the plural for “photograph”. (Think of the use of the apostrophe in words such as “isn’t”, “could’ve” etc.)
Maybe I’m just old.
In my mind it’s similar to trying to tell someone “e-mail” is wrong and it’s spelt “email”… it’s like… I’m sorry son, what did you say?
Plural : Photos
Ownership: Photo’s
Plural and Ownership: Photos’
This is a strange thing to appear on the forums. At least the grammar newts can have some jerky to chew.
Not exactly an English expert but I’ll try. The examples you mentioned, “isn’t” and “could’ve”, are contractions. But, “photo’s” is not considered a contraction of “photographs” because:
Contractions (in English!) combine two (or more) words into one. When you shorten “photographs” to “photo’s”, you are not combining multiple words.
Using 's at the end is already used to indicate possession. For example, you might say “the photo’s dimensions” or “the photo’s colors”.
apostrophes are NEVER used for plural.