you use.
Another group of commonly recognized shortened versions of words includes
numbers and
symbols: There are 400 snakes in that pit.”
Efficiency or length considerations are common reasons for using abbreviations or acronyms. Technical writing is often full of long names for things that must be repeated to ensure accuracy and clarity. Shortening these terms can save a great deal of space.
A computer manual, for example, that repeats central processing unit a few thousand times will be much longer than one that uses CPU Some also argue that it is more e cient or quicker to read abbreviations and acronyms. That is so if
you have rst made sure your audience knows what you are shortening, and how.
If you are writing or speaking to people who are used to or even
demand the use of acronyms, then follow the local
rules and use them to save space or show you are part of the group.
Finally, remember that acronyms and abbreviations are treated as sound clusters when deciding whether to put a or an before them—use an if the shortened form usually is pronounced with a vowel sound (an LED readout) but a if the pronunciation begins with a consonant sound (a 100° day)
no matter how the acronyms, abbreviations, numbers, or symbols are spelled.
You can nd explanations of the proper use of the following terms in the entries for each
abbreviation or acronym AD,
A.M.,
B.C., ca, cf, Co, dollars, Dr, ed, e.g.,et al., etc, hr, ibid, i.e., Ib., loe., cit, Ltd, min, Mr, Ms, NB, op, cit, percent, Ph.D.,P.M., q.v., sec, St., and
U.S. See also
contractions.About, around. In
standard English about should be used instead of around to mean approximately. WRONG He is around six feet tall RIGHT He is about six feet tall.”
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