Plural of request for proposal
Writing for Business
| Which is correct? When you respond to _______________ from multiple companies, you should demonstrate a broad understanding of each organization’s culture. a. request for proposals b. requests for proposal |
Answer: b
Explanation:
A request for proposal (RFP) is a single request, generally seeking multiple proposals. (The singular form is sometimes spelled request for proposals.) The plural form is requests for proposal because there are multiple requests. It’s like cups of tea (rather than cup of teas) or sets of tennis (rather than set of tennises).
So, if the plural is requests for proposal, what’s the plural of RFP?
Although request for proposal is pluralized as requests for proposal — which makes it seem like the plural should be RFP — we treat the abbreviation as a single word. So, to indicate multiple requests, make it RFPs.
