Abbreviations, what are they, and how do we use them?
There are different kinds of abbreviations. The way an abbreviation is written relies on the category it belongs to.
- write abbreviations with capital letters
- write full stops
- to use apostrophes
Acronyms
Words that are formed from initial letters of other words and pronounced as they are spelled. A few examples:
Aids
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation
SIM (Card)
Subscriber Identification Module
Note: Most acronyms can be written as capital letters or with an initial capital letter at the beginning of the word.
Some are well-established within society, so much so that they've become 'normal' words.
Laser
Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
Radar
Radio detection and ranging
Quango
Quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation
Scuba
Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
Contractions
A contraction is an abbreviation with letters removed from the middle of the word.
Dr - Doctor
St - Saint
Ltd - Limited
Revd - Reverend Contractions can also appear as abbreviated forms of more than one word.
For example:
I'll - I will/I shall
We've - We have
Shouldn't - Should not Initialisms
Initialisms are abbreviations consisting of initials (first letters) of words pronounced as separate letters when spoken.
For example:
BBC - British Broadcasting Association
MP - Member of Parliament
UN - United Nations
UK - United Kingdom
CD - Compact Disc Note: Full stops aren't required after the letters in an initialism.
Apostrophes aren't required when forming the plural of an initialism.
Examples:
CDs - I bought some CDs last week.
MPs - MPs took a vote against the bill last night.
Shortenings
A shortening is an abbreviation where the end or beginning of a word has been dropped.
Cello - violincello
Flu - Influenza
Ad - Advertisement
Blog - Weblog
Telly - Television
Bike - Bicycle
CDs - I bought some CDs last week.
MPs - MPs took a vote against the bill last night.
Shortenings
A shortening is an abbreviation where the end or beginning of a word has been dropped.
Cello - violincello
Flu - Influenza
Ad - Advertisement
Blog - Weblog
Telly - Television
Bike - Bicycle
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