Unit 1 Acronyms

(Exercises)

Acronyms in English for IT –

Practice: Pronunciation and
meaning of acronyms
 Unit 1 - Structure
Unit 1.
◼ 1.1. Acronyms in English for IT – Some formal and
practical issues (Lecture)
◼ 1.2. Practice on acronyms in English for IT
(Exercises)
1. Pronunciation of acronyms
- 3 categories

Also: pronunciation of
GUI, FAQ, OLED?
i.e., e.g. ...?
Page 2 / Pronunciation (1)
Category (a): each letter pronounced separately

‘EPOS’ – how is it different? (E-POS)

Category (a): each letter pronounced
separately
Stress the last letter
• ISP – Internet Service Provider

• CPU – Central Processing Unit

• URL – Uniform / Universal Resource Locator

Page 2 / Pronunciation (2)
Category (b): letters pronounced as one word

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pin

WAP LAN RAM

Page 2 / Pronunciation (3)
Category (c): combination of (a) and (b)
WLAN – pronounced as
Y- LAN
(wi-LAN)
or
Wireless LAN
or
Double-U-LAN

J-PEG C-D-ROM L-DAP

Page 2 / Pronunciation practice (1)
Internationally renowned electronics and
technology trade show?

Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

Page 2 / Pronunciation practice (2)
Page 7 / Pronunciation practice (3)
Page 7 / Pronunciation practice (4)
2. Interpreting acronyms
Matching acronyms with corresponding
phrases.
pp. 5-6 / Phrases behind acronyms / 1
The acronym ...
stands for/refers to ...
• Information System = IS
• Universal Serial Bus = USB
• Universal /Uniform Resource
Locator = URL
• Computer-Aided
Manufacturing /Design =
CAM/CAD
Q: Which acronyms are
combined in BS&IS-M?
A: Business systems modelling +
Information systems modelling
• Notice that in the combined
acronym we don’t write
BSM&ISM, instead: BS&IS-M
• BSM (like many acronyms) has
multiple meanings: business
systems modelling, business
service modelling ...
pp. 5-6 / Phrases behind acronyms / 2
The acronym ...
stands for/refers to ...
1. Information System = IS
2. Universal Serial Bus = USB
3. Uniform Resource Locator =
URL
4. Computer-Aided Manufacturing
/ Computer-Aided Design =
CAM / CAD
5. Read-Only Memory = ROM
6. Intelligence Quotient = IQ
7. Operating System = OS
8. Central Processing Unit = CPU
9. (Wireless) Local Area Network
= WLAN
10. Artificial Intelligence = AI
11. Chief Executive Officer = CEO
12. International Monetary Fund
= IMF
13. Technology- Enhanced
Language Learning = TELL
14. Also known as = AKA
pp. 5-6 / Phrases behind acronyms / 3
The acronym ...
stands for/refers to ...
15. European Credit Transfer and
Accumulation System = ECTS
16. High-Definition Multimedia
Interface = HDMI
17. Data Base Management System =
DBMS
18. High-Definition Television =
HDTV
19. Information and Communications
Technology = ICT
20. Business System and Information
System Modelling = BS & IS-M
21. Double Data Rate Random
Access Memory = DDR RAM
22. Human-Computer Interaction
= HCI
23. Learning & Development =
L&D
24. Revolutions Per Minute =
RPM
25. Consumer Electronics Show =
CES
26. Hypertext Markup Language
= HTML (four letters!)
27. General Data Protection
Regulation = GDPR
28. Massive Open Online Course =
MOOC
Also: Phrases behind acronyms
• ECTS
▫ European Credit Transfer and Accumulation
System
▫ (How many letters / words?)
Also: Phrases behind acronyms

‘LG showed off a quantum dot TV at CES 2015.’

• QLED
▫ Quantum dot Light Emitting Diode
(How many letters / words?)
2. Interpreting acronyms
B. Matching acronyms with
definitions (What’s in a name?)

Are the key words from the definition of a

concept also represented in the name / acronym
for that concept?
e.g. PC = personal computer
‘a kind of a digital computer used by one person at a
time’, ‘a single-user computer’
p. 8 / Which acronym? / 1

c. technology that uses electronic tags placed on objects,

people, or animals to relay identifying information to an
electronic reader by means of radio waves

RFID – radio frequency identification

• Hint: Look for an acronym that contains words ‘radio’

and ‘identification’.
p. 8 / Which acronym? / 2

a. use of a computer-assisted method to organize and control

the development of software, especially on large, complex
projects involving many software components and people
p. 8 / Which acronym? / 2

a. use of a computer-assisted method to organize and control

the development of software, especially on large, complex
projects involving many software components and people

• Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE)

p. 8 / Which acronym? / 3
b. HTML embedded scripting language. It provides web
developers with a full suite of tools for building dynamic
websites.
p. 8 / Which acronym? / 3
b. HTML embedded scripting language. It provides web
developers with a full suite of tools for building dynamic
websites.
PHP*
P -?
H - Hypertext
P - Preprocessor

*a recursive acronym - incorporates the acronym as the first word

in the expanded phrase: the first "P" stands for "PHP”, i.e.
PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
p. 8 / Which acronym? / 4

d. executive responsible for development, implementation

and operation of a firm's information technology policy

e. enables you to get live web feeds directly to your

computer whenever a site you subscribe to is updated
p. 8 / Which acronym? / 4

d. executive responsible for development, implementation

and operation of a firm's information technology policy

• Chief Information Officer (CIO)

e. enables you to get live web feeds directly to your

computer whenever a site you subscribe to is updated

• Really Simple Syndication (RSS)

p. 8 / Which acronym? / 5

f. recognizes the text in an image of a document, such

as a PDF file, and creates an editable text file or
searchable PDF
p. 8 / Which acronym? / 5
f. recognizes the text in an image of a document, such as a
PDF file, and creates an editable text file or searchable PDF

• optical character recognition (OCR) software

• https://medium.com/states-title/using-nlp-bert-to-improve-ocr-
accuracy-385c98ae174c
p. 8 / Which acronym? / 6

Other examples in this task:

g. Gbps / gbps (gigabits per second)

h. BPM (Business Process Modelling)

i. RPG (Role-Playing Game)