Abbreviations for organizations and other common terms
Many familiar abbreviations, capitalized and written without periods, are acceptable in formal writing.
Initialisms are abbreviations formed from the first letters of words (MLB, HTTP); acronyms are initialisms that can be pronounced as words (NATO, AIDS).
Organizations
NATO, CIA, FBI, AFL-CIO, NAACP, IBM, UPI, MLA, APA
Technical terms
CD-ROM, OCR, WORM, XHTML, LED, PDF
Scientific terms
MMRI, HPLC, MCSGP, ATP, NADH
Television and radio stations
CBS, MSNBC, KTWO, WABC-TV
Miscellaneous terms
IOU, ESL
Style note: Acronyms and initialisms
Exercises:
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