hello everyone this is Andrew at Crown
Academy of English today we are doing an
English writing lesson all about
abbreviations so here are some examples
of abbreviations an abbreviation is a
shortened version of a word or phrase so
let's look at the meaning Member of
Parliament
so MP is a politician NATO this is North
Atlantic Treaty Organization this is a
defense organization app I'm sure you
already know this app is short for
application it's software often for a
mobile phone this is that means doctor
and this deed is a contraction of they
would so there are in fact four types of
abbreviations
initialism acronym shortening and
contraction so let's look at each type
in more detail with the writing rules
first of all
initialism an initialism is formed from
the first letters of a group of words
and we pronounce each letter
individually separately so here is a
very good example so the full word
full phrase is Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the abbreviation is
FBI FBI so notice we pronounce each
letter individually and each letter
represents the first letter of the full
phrase so this is an initialism here are
some more examples let's look at the
meaning or the full phrases so ASAP this
means as soon as possible so this means
quickly or immediately please send me
the letter ASAP
CD is a compact disc so for music CEO is
chief executive officer this is the big
boss in a company saq is frequently
asked questions you often see this on a
website where they answer questions that
they regularly receive ok PLC is public
limited company this is British English
and it describes a type of company that
is quoted on the stock exchange so you
can buy and sell shares UFO is
unidentified flying object so this means
an object in the sky we do not know what
it is USA I'm sure you all know this
this is the United States of America
dat again this is British English and it
is value-added tax so this is the sales
tax in the United Kingdom sales tax some
more rules about initialism if the first
letters of the full form are capital
letters then we always write the
abbreviation with capital letters so for
example this is the full phrase and we
always write this with capital first
letter because it is the name of an
official organization therefore we must
write the abbreviation also with capital
letters this is correct but this is
wrong we do not write it with small
letters for the others both forms are
acceptable so it is a style choice so
for the full phrases with small letters
at the beginning we can choose so
compact disc we write this with small
letters therefore we can choose so in
capital letters this is correct and also
in small letters this is correct and
it's the same for frequently asked
questions for stops or periods as we
sometimes call them so this is
punctuation in British English we do not
usually use full stops for initialisms
therefore this is correct in British
English and this is not really correct
it's not very common in British English
to separate the letters with a full stop
American English is different in
American English it is more a question
of style so it is possible and using
full stops or periods is more common in
American English for initialisms so in
American English you will see both FBI
like this and FBI with full stops or
periods
both of these are acceptable however in
modern English often this is it is more
common without the four stops okay
acronyms an acronym is formed from the
first letters of a group of words but
the difference is that we pronounce the
Akron ISM so we pronounce the acronym as
a word so we do not pronounce the
individual letters here are some
examples so listen to the pronunciation
we say NASA NATO we don't say we do not
say n AF a we do not say n a T oh no we
say NASA pronounce the acronym as a word
so this means the national aeronautical
and Space Administration North American
Treaty Organization I advise you to
in the dictionary to really understand
what these organizations are pin
personal identification number this is
the code for your credit card or bank
card rum this is random access memory
which is computer memory sim is
subscriber identification module this is
simply the card for your mobile phone
and here is the sales tax again and here
we can use it as an acronym so when we
use it as an acronym we pronounce it
that so it's the same it's value-added
tax and this is the sales tax in the UK
is it this is though improvement plan
and this is in fact the postcode in the
USA so this is part of the postal
address in the USA let's come back to
this one oh sorry here is an example
here is some rum so this is a photograph
of the random access memory let's come
back to this one so this sales tax
eating it is in fact it can be in fact
two types of abbreviation and the
pronoun pronunciation is different for
each one so like here it can be an
acronym and we pronounce it that it can
also be an initialism and in that case
we pronounce each letter separately so
we can also pronounce
this da3 okay sir both are possible
continuing with acronyms if the first
letters of the full form R capital
letters then we always write the acronym
with capital letters so here the full
form has capital letters therefore we
write the acronym with capital letters
and small letters is wrong and again for
the others both forms are acceptable it
is a style choice
so value-added tax we always write this
with small letters therefore we can
choose sometimes we see it with capital
letters sometimes we see it with small
letters both are correct
let's look at four stops and periods so
for acronyms we do not use full stops
after each letter of an acronym so this
first one is correct but this is wrong
okay because an acronym we do not write
full stops and the reason is simple
because remember we pronounce this as a
word we'll treat these acronyms as if
they were a whole word and we never
write full stop in the middle of a word
that is why it is wrong okay shortening
shortening is an abbreviation in which
the beginning or the end of the word has
been dropped there are two types of
shortenings
type 1 real words here are some examples
add app flu blog reiner let's look at
the meaning or the origin so we can see
that ad is an abbreviation for
advertisement and we have dropped the
end of the word and advertisement is
something to promote a product or
service the app is an abbreviation for
application so we have dropped this part
of the word this is simply software flu
is an interesting one
we have dropped the beginning of the
word and we have dropped the end of the
word
so flu is in the middle and it means an
illness
Blagh is in fact short for web block and
it is a type of website and Rhyno well
it is a wild animal and we use type 1
shortenings like real words
in fact they have now become real words
they have almost replaced the full form
so these words in fact appear in the
dictionary so we write them as a real
word and we say them as a real word ok
so they are words in their own right we
do not use a full stop or period after
type 1 short length I placed an ad in
the newspaper this is correct notice
that we have not used a full stop here
and this is wrong I placed an ad in the
newspaper so we have written a full stop
here but that is wrong the first letter
is a capital letter only if the full
word starts with a capital letter
so bridge this is an abbreviation for
the word Britain and this means a
British person so this is the full form
it is referring to a nationality and
that is why it has a full a capital
letter there for the shortening also
starts with a capital letter
let's look at the type two shortening
these are not real words here are some
common examples so this one is an
abbreviation for set the month of
February we have dropped the end of the
word this is an abbreviation for
Saturday and this is an abbreviation to
the words etc and etc is a Latin word
and it means and the rest type to
shortenings are only used in writing so
we do not say them so when we do say
them or when we try to say them we say
the full version of the word okay so if
we see this if we want to read this we
don't say said we would say February so
in writing we would write or we could
write please send me the F EB accounts
but we do not say that when we read it
we would say please send me the February
accounts full stops periods and we have
the choice to use four stops at the end
of the abbreviation so again this is a
style choice so this is correct and this
is correct so they're both both versions
are acceptable correct capital letters
the
letter is a capital letter only if the
full word starts with a capital letter
so here it is a month so we use a
capital letter and we do the same
therefore with the abbreviation a day of
the week starts with the capital letter
therefore the abbreviation starts with a
capital letter okay
contractions contractions are
abbreviations in which we drop letters
from the middle of a word from the
middle and we do not write a full stop
at the end of a contraction the first
letter is a capital letter only if the
full word starts with a capital letter
this is the same rule every time type
one missing letters coming from one word
so here are some common examples so dr
or this abbreviation is the abbreviation
the dr. so you can see we have dropped
letters from the middle of the word this
means government so we have dropped
these letters this means st. and this
means mister and the second type of
contraction the this is the contracted
form of more than one word and these are
very common in English and I'm sure you
already know them so here are a few
examples
so we have joined together two words so
we have a contracted form for more than
one word the original form has two words
he is and we have dropped the letter I
and then we have joined these two words
together
so they'd is the contracted form of they
would so we have dropped these letters
and then we have brought these two words
together and this blue thing here is
called an apostrophe and here we have
joined together I and have so this blue
thing is an apostrophe so we use an
apostrophe to represent the missing
letters so we drop some letters in the
middle we join the words together and we
write an apostrophe to represent those
dropped letters those missing letters
and there are many many contracted forms
of type 2 contracted forms okay so
that's the end of the lesson
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