Learn English Translation and Essay Writing

Abbreviations

The abbreviation is a short way of writing a word or a phrase that could also be written out in full. So, for example, Dr Bahman = Doctor Bahman. Likewise, for example = e.g.

Abbreviations are different from contractions. An abbreviation does not normally have a distinctive pronunciation of its own. So the abbreviation Dr is pronounced Doctor, the abbreviation oz is pronounced ounce(s) and the abbreviation e.g. is pronounced for example. (Some people say "ee-jee" for the last one, but this practice is decidedly unusual.) A contraction, however, has its own distinctive pronunciation: the contraction shouldn’t is pronounced differently from should not, and the contraction he’s is pronounced differently from he is or he has.

            In formal writing, abbreviations are very rarely used. The abbreviations are almost used for certain common titles, when these are used with someone's name: Mr Willis, Dr Livingstone, Mrs Thatcher, Ms Harmon, St Joan. (Note that the two items Mrs and Ms are conventionally treated as abbreviations, even though they can be written in no other way.) When writing about a French or Spanish person, you may use the abbreviations for the French and Spanish equivalents of the English titles: M. Mitterrand, Sr. González. (These are the usual French and Spanish abbreviations for Monsieur and Señor, equivalent to English Mister.) Observe that each of these abbreviations begins with a capital letter.

Other titles are sometimes abbreviated in the same way: Prof. Chomsky, Sgt. Yorke,  Mgr. Lindemann. However, it is usually much better to write these titles out in full when you are using them in a sentence: Professor Chomsky, Sergeant Yorke, Monsignor Lindemann. The abbreviated forms are best confined to places like footnote and captions of pictures. Note carefully the use of full stops in these abbreviations. British usage favors omitting the full stop in abbreviations which include the first and last letters of a single word, such as Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr and St; American usage prefers (A) Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. and St., with full stops. Most other abbreviated titles, however, require a full stop, as shown above.

Another kind of abbreviations is a person's initials. These are usually followed by full stops: John D. Rockefeller, C. Aubrey Smith, O. J. Simpson. Increasingly, however, there is a tendency to write such initials without full stops: John D Rockefeller, C Aubrey Smith, O J Simpson. And note the rare special case illustrated by Harry S Truman: the S in this name never takes a full stop, because it's not an abbreviation for anything; President Truman's parents actually gave him the middle name S.

a.m. (`before noon') and p.m. (`after noon') are two other common abbreviations: 10.00 a.m., six p.m. These are always acceptable. Note that these are not capitalized in British usage (though American usage prefers (A) 10.00 am and six pm, with small capitals and no full stops). Also usual are the abbreviations b.c. and a.d., usually written in small capitals, for marking dates as before or after the birth of Christ.

Examples:

1-     It is estimated that  Rome was founded in 753 b.c.

2-     The emperor Vespasian died in a.d. 79. or 

3-     The emperor Vespasian died in 79 a.d.

Traditionally, a.d. is written before the date, but nowadays it is often written after.

A non-Christian who does not use the Christian calendar may prefer to use b.c.e. (`before the common era') and c.e. (`of the common era') instead, which is always acceptable.

Examples:

1-     It is estimated that  Rome was founded in 753 b.c.e.

2-     The emperor Vespasian died in 79 c.e.

The four abbreviations are commonly written in small capitals, and one should follow this practice if one can. If it is impossible, use full-sized capitals instead. All four of them are also now very frequently written without full stops: 753 bc, ad 79, 753 bce, 79 ce. This reflects the increasing tendency to omit the full stops in abbreviations.

Note: When an abbreviation comes at the end of a sentence, only one full stop is enough. You should never write two full stops at the end.

Som large and well-known organizations and companies have very long names which are commonly abbreviated to a set of initials written in capital letters, usually with no full stops. Here are a few familiar examples:

1-     BBC = British Broadcasting Corporation

2-     ICI = Imperial Chemical Industries

3-     FBI = Federal Bureau of Investigation

4-     RSPCA = Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

5-     NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organization

6-     MIT = Massachusetts Institute of Technology

7-     TUC = Trades Union Congress

8-     GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education

9-     DDT = dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane

10-IQ= intelligence quotient

11-FM = frequency modulation

GNote 1: IRO stands for the International Refugee Organization, or IOOF stands for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (an American social and charitable organization). And, if you're writing for a non-British readership, you'd better not use the abbreviated forms of specifically British institutions, such as the TUC, without explaining them. If you are in doubt, explain the abbreviation the first time you use it.

GNote 2: A few of these were formerly written with full stops, such as R.S.P.C.A., but this tiresome and unnecessary practice is now obsolete.

GNote 3: Using abbreviations in formal writing should be avoided. The frequent use of unnecessary abbreviations will make the text hard to read.

GNote 4: In scientific writing, the names of units are always abbreviated without full stops or a plural s.

Examples:

5 kg instead of 5 kilogram's, and certainly not 5 kgs

800 Hz instead of 800 Hertz

 17.3 cm3 instead of 17.3 cubic centimeters

The followings are Latin abbreviations used in English texts with their English equivalents:

1-     e.g=. for example 

2-     cf. = compare

3-     i.e. = in other words

4-     v. = consult

5-     viz. = namely

6-     etc=. and so forth

7-     sc. = which means

8-     et al.=  and other people

9-     ca.= approximately

You had better to use them only when it is appropriate in special circumstances in which brevity is at a premium, such as in footnotes. You should try to use them in complete form.

Using a Latin abbreviation does not relieve you of the obligation of punctuating your sentence. Again, if you avoid Latin abbreviations, you won't get into this sort of trouble.

The abbreviation ca. `approximately' is properly used only in citing a date which is not known exactly and then usually only if the date is given in parentheses.

Example:

Robert Dallas (ca. 1812, 1892) was known as "Adventurer".

The use of ca, here, indicates that the date of the cemetery and the date of Dallas' birth are not exactly known. If neither birth date nor death date is known for sure, then each is preceded by ca.

Outside of parentheses, one should usually avoid the use of ca. and an English word like about or approximately is preferred.

Example:

The city of Bilbao was founded in about 1210.

Do not write "...in ca. 1210".

Using the abbreviation etc. should be avoided in careful writing. It is vague and sloppy and, when applied to people, rather offensive.

Examples:

1-     Central Africa was explored by Livingstone, Stanley and Brazza, among others. or 

2-     Central Africa was explored by several Europeans, including Livingstone, Stanley and Brazza.

Finally, there are two further (and highly objectionable) Latin abbreviations ibid. and op. cit..

The Latin abbreviations are usually written in italics, but this is not essential.

It has been fashionable to write Latin abbreviations without full stops, so one may come across ie and eg in the texts. It is better  for us not to imitate it. (et al. has only one full stop, because et meaning and is a complete word in Latin.) 

The Latin abbreviation cf., properly means `compare', merely refers to published work. If you wish to invite your reader to see a work, you should use the word see instead of abbreviation cf.

Example:

The Australian language Dyirbal has a remarkable gender system; see Dixon (1972).