36 | Abbreviations

36|Abbreviations

Abbreviations enable a writer to include necessary information in capsule form. Limit abbreviations to those common enough for readers to recognize, or add an explanation so that a reader does not wonder, “What does this mean?” Remember: when in doubt, spell it out.

36aUse abbreviations for some titles with proper names.

For advice on punctuating abbreviations, see 27b.

Abbreviate the following titles:

Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Collins Dr. Elinor Ostrom
Ms. Martha Reading St. Matthew

854

Write out other titles in full.

General Douglas MacArthur Senator Dianne Feinstein
President Barack Obama Professor Shirley Fixler

Spell out most titles that appear without proper names.

image

When an abbreviated title (such as an academic degree) follows a proper name, set it off with commas. Don’t add commas otherwise.

Alice Martin, CPA, is the accountant for Charlotte Cordera, PhD.

My brother has a BA in economics.

Avoid repeating forms of the same title before and after a proper name. Use either Dr. Jane Doe or Jane Doe, DDS, but not Dr. Jane Doe, DDS.

36bUse a.m., p.m., BCE, AD, and $ with numbers.

9:05 a.m. 3:45 p.m. 2000 BCE AD 1066

For exact prices that include cents and for amounts in the millions, use a dollar sign with figures ($17.95, $10.52, $3.5 billion). Avoid combining an abbreviation with wording that means the same: $1 million, not $1 million dollars; 9:05 a.m. or 9:05 in the morning, not 9:05 a.m. in the morning.

36cAvoid abbreviating names of months, days of the week, units of measurement, or parts of literary works.

NAMES OF MONTHS AND DAYS OF THE WEEK

After their session on September 3, they did not meet until Friday, December 12.

UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

It would take 10,000 pounds of concrete to build a causeway 25 feet by 58 inches.

PARTS OF LITERARY WORKS

Von Bargen’s reply appears in volume 2, chapter 12, page 187.

Leona first speaks in act 1, scene 2 [or the second scene of act 1].

36dUse the full English version of most Latin abbreviations.

For the use of sic to identify an error, see 35d.

Follow the conventions of your citation style if you use Latin abbreviations in source citations, parentheses, and brackets. However, unless you are writing for an audience of ancient Romans, translate most Latin abbreviations into English in your text.

855

COMMON LATIN ABBREVIATIONS ENGLISH
et al. (et alia) and others, and the others (people)
etc. (et cetera) and so forth, and others, and the rest
i.e. (id est) that is
e.g. (exempli gratia) for example, such as

36eUse abbreviations for familiar organizations, corporations, and people.

Most sets of initials that are capitalized and read as letters do not require periods between the letters (CIA, JFK, UCLA). A set of initials that is pronounced as a word is called an acronym (NATO, AIDS, UNICEF) and never has periods between letters.

To avoid misunderstanding, write out an organization’s full name the first time you mention it, followed by its initials in parentheses. Then, in later references, you can rely on initials alone. (For very familiar initials, such as FBI or CBS, you need not give the full name.)

36fAvoid abbreviations for countries.

When you mention the United States or another country in your text, give its full name unless the repetition would weigh down your paragraph.

image

EXCEPTION: Unlike US as a noun, the abbreviation, used consistently with traditional periods or without, is acceptable as an adjective: US Senate, U.S. foreign policy. For other countries, find an alternative: British ambassador. Follow your citation style when you cite or list government documents.

EXERCISE 36-1 Using Abbreviations

Substitute abbreviations for words and vice versa as appropriate in the following sentences. Correct any incorrectly used abbreviations. Example:

image
  1. Prof. James has office hours on Mon. and Tues., beginning at 10:00 a.m.

  2. Emotional issues, e.g., abortion and capital punishment, cannot be settled easily by compromise.

  3. The red peppers are selling for three dollars and twenty-five cents a lb.

856

  1. Hamlet’s famous soliloquy comes in act three, sc. one.

  2. A.I.D.S. has affected people throughout U.S. society, not just gay men and IV-drug users.

  3. The end of the cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union complicated the role of the U.N. and drastically altered the purpose of N.A.T.O.