grammatical number - Pluralizing Numbered Items


In US legal practice, we often refer to numbered items: Interrogatory No. 1, Request for Admission No. 3, U.S. Patent No. 5,555,555.


What part of the item should be pluralized? That is, should one write "Questions No. 1, 2, and 3" or "Question Nos. 1, 2, and 3?"


My preference is the former, because it is the questions that are of interest, not the numbers. One can imagine a scenario in which the numbers are of interest. E.g., "The question numbers 1 and 2 are written in arabic format, but question numbers 3 and 4 are written as roman numerals." But in the usual case, what the author is concerned about is the item, not the number: "Questions number 1-4 have concise answers, but questions number 5-6 may be rhetorical."


I acknowledge that the issue can be avoided by simply omitting "number(s)" and writing "Questions 1-4" or "Patents 5,555,555 and 5,555,556." But where's the fun in that?


Does anyone have a compelling or definitive answer?




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