The contraction here is from "1980s", so the correct form of the contracted version is '80s. 80s, without the apostrophe, can be seen as a less formal variant of this, but "80's" doesn't really make sense: the only time you would say "the 80's" is if "the 80" (singular) is a thing that can have possessions, and you're referring to one of them. In my opinion, 1980s means all the years contained within the decade of the 80s (so 1980-1989) and 1980's means that single year specifically.
Do you say 1980s or 1980's? According to both AP and Chicago Style guidelines, always use the apostrophe before the 80s as it replaces the 19. So the correct way would be '80s. You would not use an apostrophe after the 80 (as in 80's) because the decade reference is a descriptive phrase, not a possessive.
If "1980's" is used, it indicates possession and only for the year 1980. If 1980s' is used, it indicates possession for the entire decade. If "1980s" is used, it's referring to all the years in that decade but not in a possessive manner.
The only reason an apostrophe would be used in the latter instance is in the shortened version, e.g. The 1980s. The decade of big hair, synth-pop, and neon everything.
But beyond the leg warmers and iconic music videos, lies a surprisingly common point of grammatical contention: how do you actually spell "80s" when referring to the decade? Is it 80s, 80's, or even '80s? The answer, while seemingly simple, involves understanding the role of the apostrophe and its relationship with. The 1980s have been called "the decade of decadence," and one of the era's most notable movie characters, Wall Street 's Gordon Gekko, famously declared that "greed is good." But the decade was about more than just excess. It was a period marked by defining events that continue to resonate.
The Soviet Union began to collapse, AIDS emerged as a deadly epidemic, and work began on a. 1980s or 1980s check which spelling is correct on WhichIsCorrect.com. Although we used to use apostrophes to indicate a series of years, the current convention is to drop the apostrophe and write a decade as a simple plural, like 1980s.
The argument for changing. I need some feedback here. I'm old school and had been using 80's instead of 80s until a forum member made note that it was outdated.
The standard now is 80s. Yet if you had submitted a manuscript in the 80s any editor would have still duly made the apostrophe insertion to note plurality. The apostrophe wasn't really an apostrophe noting possession, it was actually a visual sign since.
The 1980s are the decade. 1980's is the possessive form of the noun '1980'. So, 'the 1980s were dominated by the endgame of the Cold War' is grammatically correct, if only arguably factually correct.