Q. To correctly style the plural of a word as word, or phrase as phrase, (1) do we italicize the core word and leave the s or es ending in roman type: An excessive number of hads, hases, hises, hes, shes, ises, whereases, yeses, nos, etc.? Or (2) should the items be in roman: An excessive number of hads, hases, hises, hes, shes, ises, whereases, yeses, nos, etc.? Or (3) should the items be in roman, enclosed in quotation marks: An excessive number of “hads,” “hases,” “hises,” “hes,” “shes,” “ises,” “whereases,” “yeses,” “nos,” etc.? Please, no recasts.

Q. How do you pluralize an acronym where the plural form of the word written out does not use an s? For example, if I have an acronym of ALC that stands for Adorable Little Child and want to make the acronym plural (i.e., Adorable Little Children), do I use the s or leave it out? If I use the s and write the plural acronym as ALCs, I feel like I’m saying Adorable Little Childrens, which is not grammatically correct. Would ALC be used for both the singular and plural?

Q. In references to more than one century, is it correct to use century when expressing a range and centuries when expressing a block of time? Is it “from the late eighteenth to early twentieth century” but “during the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries”?

Q. Can CMOS weigh in on the pluralization of trademarked materials? We have an internal debate over “iPhone 7s” versus “iPhones 7.”

Q. While copyediting several scientific research papers in different fields (mathematics, chemistry, physics, medicine, etc.), we encounter some uncountable nouns used in countable forms (with plural s and preceded by an or a). Some of these words may be used across the paper more than a hundred times, and correcting these may require rephrasing some parts. The authors of the papers complain that this is how they use these terms. Is it possible to use these uncountable nouns in the countable forms if this is how they are used in the scientific field? Also, should I question every single noun used in the research paper and check whether it is countable or uncountable?

Q. If Q & A stands for question and answer (as in a Q & A session), how would you make this a plural, as in “The police officer recorded the [questions and answers] in his notebook”? I assume Qs & As is correct but would appreciate your confirmation.

Q. Our marketing people want to know which is correct: The buyer(s) purchase a policy or the buyer(s) purchases a policy.

Q. In a policy, I have to indicate that the word facility could be plural. The person editing the document has written it as facility(s). What is the correct way to portray nouns that end in y when necessary to indicate they could be singular or plural?

Q. Periods always go inside quotation marks. I have been told that the exception is when the matter within the quotation marks is a number or single letter. For example: The figure is impressed “1”. Please tell me if I have been misinformed!

Q. Hello, Wise Ones. If you were me, how would you pluralize B-26? B-26es? B-26s? (Not, I’m pretty sure, B-26’s.) None of them look right to me.