Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Acronym v/s Abbreviation

ACRONYM
An acronym is a pronounceable word formed from initial letter or letters of major parts of a compound sentence, for example, RAM (Random Access Memory), MDS (Minimum Data Set), CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Gorgia) and more.
Feature:
  • Always all caps
  • Pronounced as words

Rule:

  • Articles (a, an, the) Acronyms are read as words and, except when used adjectivally, are rarely preceded by a, an, or the . For example, member nations of UN.
  • Clarity If the acronym is not likely to be familiar to the reader, or is mentioned only a few times in your text, it is better to write the term out for each use or to adopt a shortened form that retains clarity.
  • Plurals Write the plural form of an acronym without an apostrophe. For example, write “the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program is popular at the university because MBAs command high starting salaries.”

ABBREVIATION

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word, never pronounced as a word, for example, e.g. (exampli gratia), fig. (Figure), Ltd. (limited) and many more.
Rule:

  • Never begin a sentence with a lowercase abbreviation. Begin a sentence with an acronym only if there is no reasonable way to rewrite it.
  • Number of traditional abbreviations continue to be acceptable in your text, such as Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., A.M., Inc., Ltd and so on.
  • When writing initials, the traditional format is still preferred, put a period and a single space after each. Write: J. S. Bach, E. E. Cummings, C. S. Lewis. “Use periods with abbreviations that that appear in lowercase letters” .It is well to use periods after lowercase abbreviations that spell words (e.g., in., act., no.).
  • Avoid using Latin abbreviations.
    Correct: for example, and others, and so on, and that is, or equivalent phrases.
    Incorrect: e.g. (for example), et al., (and others), etc. (and so on), i.e. (that is).