Cc'd, OK'd and RSVP'd

​Here's a modern apostrophe puzzle that would have baffled Shakespeare.

When an initialism becomes a verb, how do we add -ed? Consider these examples:

• I cc'd everyone in the email.

• She OK'd the proposal.

• They RSVP'd yesterday.

The apostrophe is there for a good reason. Without it, ccd, OKed and RSVPed look awkward and can be difficult to read. The apostrophe neatly separates the abbreviation from the ending, making it immediately obvious that -d represents the past tense.

This isn't a possessive apostrophe, of course. It's simply acting as a bridge between an abbreviation and its grammatical ending.

Not every abbreviation needs this treatment. Acronyms such as laser, radar and scuba have become ordinary words, so they take endings in the usual way: lasered, radared (rarely!) and scubaed (rarer still!).

So, if you've cc'd your colleagues, OK'd a report or RSVP'd to a party, don't worry—the apostrophe has earned its place. It's helping English adapt gracefully to the alphabet soup of modern life. It also reinforces one of our recurring themes: apostrophes are sometimes used for clarity, not just for possession or omission.