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For example, if the first use of RDA occurs as follows:

"Recommended daily allowances (RDAs) are established by nutritionists after some kind of research...."

Should the parenthetical introduction be singular or plural?

Please note whether your answer is style guide-specific.

Note: This question was already asked here: Is the acronym pluralized in the first parenthetical use?, but because the example used by the OP included a plural word (Forces) inside the initialism (RFF) the crux of this question was not answered. (I created this one because I don't have enough reputation to comment on or edit that post yet.)

Also, the above question was listed as a duplicate of this one: What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym / initialism? ; however, that topic does not answer the question I'm asking.

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    Not awful, not great. I'd reword: Each Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) is established by nutritionists after research...." Oh, yeah, what's some kind of research?
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Jan 18, 2022 at 19:45
  • Perhaps ".... is established through research by nutritionists."
    – DjinTonic
    Commented Jan 18, 2022 at 19:47
  • I would put (RDA) after the first occurrence of recommended daily allowance that is not plural or possessive. (There's no rule that it needs to occur on the very first occurrence.)
    – Tinfoil Hat
    Commented Jan 18, 2022 at 20:18
  • @YosefBaskin, I understand the option to reword, but I'm trying to figure out if there's a convention that addresses a plural first mention, in case it's unavoidable. The sentence is made up, "some kind of research" is just filler. Thanks for the quick reply.
    – Mathias Weibel
    Commented Jan 18, 2022 at 20:23
  • I'd counter that I cannot suggest painting myself into a corner and then call for theoretical help in how to get out. I'd take control of my wording. My approach is not style-guide specific.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Jan 18, 2022 at 21:25

1 Answer 1

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Yes, in the absence of specific guidance otherwise, the parenthetical introduction of an acronym/initialism can be plural to match the expanded version.

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