When alphabetizing plurals, which comes first, girl's or girls'?

girl's

then girls'

thanks

When alphabetizing plurals, such as "girl's" and "girls'," the general rule is to ignore apostrophes and consider only the letters in the word. In this case, the word that begins with "girl" (meaning "girl's") would come before the word that begins with "girls" because "g" comes before "s" in the alphabet. However, there might be slight variations depending on specific style guides or dictionaries.

To alphabetize words correctly, follow these steps:

1. Ignore any punctuation marks, including apostrophes, hyphens, and spaces, and focus only on the actual letters in the word.
2. Compare the first letters of the words being alphabetized.
3. If the first letters are the same, move to the second letter, and continue comparing until you find a point of difference.
4. The word with the letter that comes first in the alphabet should be placed before the other word.

Keep in mind that stylistic choices or variations may exist in specific situations or contexts, so it's always a good idea to consult relevant style guides or dictionaries when in doubt.