There is one expert response. The apostrophe following the number has been removed.
Because there are no missing letters in decade names like the 50s and 60s, there is no need for an apostrophe before the "S," yet it is appropriate to include one. The phrase may be spelt "'50s" because the "19" is deleted, although "50s" is also acceptable. There are two ways to write the fifties: with or without the year.
With the Year: 1950-1959.
Without the Year: [blank space] - 1959.
As you can see, if you write nothing after the number, it is acceptable to leave a blank space instead. You would not put a period at the end of the sentence though, as this would make it read like someone was typing out the fifties on a computer keyboard!
Some people might think that writing the year first and then going over it with a fine-tipped pen would be better than writing the year completely by itself, but this isn't true. If you write the year first, you need to start at the beginning of the century (1900) and go all the way through until the present day (or at least until your article/book comes out). After you've done that, you can go back and add the other numbers (50, 60, 70, etc.) It's best to start at the beginning of the century because many people confuse it with the decade of the 1900s.
Many (but not all) people consider the apostrophe unnecessary when the number is in the double digits and above. Most authors presently prefer the 1900s, although others prefer the 1800s. If you use numbers to identify decades, the '30s are the most common, but you'll also see the '30s and, on rare occasions, the '30s. There are only 100 years in the 20th century, so they are always written as two words.
You should use the 1900s because it is a widely accepted style guide rule that when writing about periods, you should use the last year of that period as your own beginning point. So if you want to be accurate, you'd use 1999 instead of 2009.
The 2000s began in 2000 and will end in 2100. The 21st century began with the arrival of the new millennium and will end after 4,000 days (which is approximately three years). Using these definitions, I calculated that the 2000s begin in January 2001 and end in December 2020. The one disadvantage to using this style is that it may not be familiar or comfortable to some readers. In general, writers tend to avoid using the word century to describe any period shorter than 100 years.
The only other option is to use the 1810s, but this is less common. The 19th century began in 1810 and ended in 1910. This is because before 1971, the year was only counted forward by 10 instead of 100.
The same restriction applies to the plural form of any other sort of number, such as stating someone's age (e.g., "clients in their 80s"), and is covered in further detail in section 4.38 on page 114 of the...
There is no need to use an apostrophe. There have been several previous conversations regarding decade names rather than punctuation. They are all written without apostrophes (that I have seen).
When referring to a decade, such as the 1920s, the same criteria applies. It is quite acceptable to place a letter after a number without using an apostrophe. If, on the other hand, you remove the 19 from the 1920s, you would substitute an apostrophe to indicate that something is missing: the '20s.
The 1930s could be written as well with out an apostrophe, but it would not make sense because there are not even three digits in this example. The 1940s could also be written without an apostrophe because there are at least four digits involved. The 1950s could be written with out an apostrophe because there are at least five digits. And so on.
In general, if there are more than two digits before the year zero (00's, 10's, 20's, 30's, etc.) then you should put an apostrophe after the year. If there are only two digits before the year (02's, 07's) then you can omit the apostrophe.
Here are some examples of how you can write the Roaring 20s: 1922, 1927, 1936, 1945, 1955. There are also books available that contain articles about various periods in history, for example, "The Roaring Twenties" by Charles Gehring or "A History of the Modern World" by William H. McNeill.
On the second reference, it is acceptable to spell out a decade span and to shorten a decade span. When shortening a decade, place an apostrophe before the digits (facing the proper way), but NOT before the "s." Nothing can be possessed by a decade! It's in the 60's, not the 60's. The same applies to the 70's and other decades.
The correct spelling of the 1960s is 20th century and its length is 20 years. There are no exceptions to this rule.
In fact, writing about events that happened in the 1960s requires special care because many words used then were not commonly used now. If you're not sure how to write about these events, consider using these tips:
If you're writing for a younger audience, you may want to use different language than what older people are likely to understand. Words such as "cool" and "groovy" were popular in the sixties, but might make your readers smile today.
If you're writing for an older audience, don't assume they know anything from past generations. Use words such as "counterculture" and "drug culture" if you need to explain what was happening in society at the time.
Finally, remember that the purpose of writing is to get information across to others. So choose the mode of expression that gets your message across best.
According to the preceding criteria, the apostrophe should not be used because the written statement is the nineteen-fifties (the plural of fifty). The issue is that individuals make mistakes in their native language, and the apostrophe rule is notoriously difficult to master. Thus, many writers simply use the apostrophe instead of the quote mark.
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