Know Your English (Jan 2002)-1

Know your English

HOW DO you refer to the years between 1901 and 1910? Is there a single word for it?

No, there isn't. There is no word to refer to something that happened in the first or the second decade of a particular century. People generally tend to say the `early decades' of the Twentieth Century. We can, for example, say `the early 1900s', or the first/second decade of the Twentieth Century. It is, however, possible to refer to something that happened after 1920. For example, the years between 1920 and 1930 are usually referred to as the 1920s. Similarly, we have the 1930s, 1940s, etc. If we know which century we are talking about, then we may simply say the 40s, the 50s, etc. It is important to note however that there is no apostrophe after the year. We do not generally write `1930's'; it would be wrong to do so.

Source:

The Hindu daily, Tuesday, Jan 01, 2002