Department of english language and literature course paper

TABLE 1.HOMONYMIC ABBREVIATIONS

ABBREVIATION	MEANING	HOMONYMS
Gen.	General	gen(nom pl) ‘gene’
im.	dedicated to	on1(dat pl) ‘they’
kier.	Chief	kier(nom,acc)’hearts’
marsz.	Marshal	marsz(nom)’march’
min.	minister,minimum,minute	mina(gen pl) ‘mine’
par.	Article	para(gen pl)’pair’,’stream’
por.	cf.,lieutenant	por(nom) ‘leek’
sen.	senator, senior	sen(nom)’dream’
tlum.	translation,translated(by)	tlum(nom,acc)’crowd’
ul.	Street	ul(nom,acc)’beehive’

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or group of words. Depending on the abbreviation, it may be written in capital or small letters and with or without one or more periods. There are a lot of miscellaneous abbreviations in English.

For example: a.m. (before noon); e.g. (for example); etc. (and so on); ft. (foot, feet); lb. (pound, pounds); ESL (English as a second language); IBM (International Business Machines); ID (identification); Ltd. (limited); PC (personal computer); U.S. (United States).

Abbreviations are often used in tables, footnotes, lists, catalogs, orders and bills, drawings, drafts, figures, captions to illustrations, and the like – that is, where space is tight and brevity is necessary. Also, there may be many abbreviations in technical writing. Some abbreviations may also be used in informal writing (for example, in informal letters to friends and relatives).

Abbreviations in different written materials should be standard, recognizable and understandable; only the forms given in the dictionary should be used. A list of abbreviations and their full forms may be provided at the end of the material in which the abbreviations are used.

Formal writing

English texts of general nontechnical character (for example, books, stories, articles, reports, business correspondence) are usually regarded as formal writing. Abbreviations are rarely used in formal nontechnical texts, with the exception of certain standard abbreviations.

Standard abbreviations that are considered appropriate for use in formal written materials include titles used before surnames (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.), academic degrees (for example, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.), certain Latin abbreviations (a.m., p.m., A.D., B.C.), official abbreviated names of companies and organizations (for example, BBC, NATO, UN), and some others.

Miscellaneous other abbreviations are usually written in full in formal writing and are pronounced as full words. For example: two pounds (not "2 lb."); twenty miles (not "20 mi."); one example (not "one ex."); new department (not "new dept."); on Friday (not "on Fri."); on Park Avenue (not "on Park Ave."); in Texas (not "in Tex."; not "in TX").

In academic writing (for example, in reports, compositions, examination papers), learners of English should use those abbreviations that are required and recommended for use in formal writing of general character. (See "Choice of style" in Standard and Slang in the section Idioms.)

The use of abbreviations in formal writing, with examples in sentences, is described in the second part of the material below. (See "Abbreviations in formal writing" below.)