The Grammar Doctor

Q.How do you use the phrase " dos and don'ts" as in: " The Do's and Don'ts of Snowboarding" Thank you!

A.I wasn't quite sure of the answer to your question, so I looked it up and got several answers from different books. Both books agreed that you shouldn't use apostrophes unless there was a chance of misreading. The Gregg Reference Manual specifically listed " dos and don'ts."

The best answer, I thought, was in Keys for Writers by Ann Raimer. This book advised italicizing the word themselves but not the final -s.

The Dos and Don'ts of Snowboarding. The italics signal to the reader that words other than nouns (do and don't) are being used as nouns in this sentence.


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