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Тема 5. Abbreviations. Types of abbreviations. Academic vocabulary adjectives, nouns, verbs (tenses, voices, forms), adverbs, articles, prepositions, conjunctions
Тема 5. Abbreviations. Types of abbreviations. Academic vocabulary adjectives, nouns, verbs (tenses, voices, forms), adverbs, articles, prepositions, conjunctions
TYPES OF ABBREVIATIONS.
ACADEMIC VOCABULARY:
NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, VERBS
(TENSES, VOICES, FORMS),
ADVERBS, ARTICLES,
PREPOSITIONS,
CONJUNCTIONS.
ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations are an important and
expanding feature of contemporary
English, widely used for convenience
and spacesaving. Students need to be
familiar with general and academic
abbreviations.
TYPES OF ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations take the form of shortened words, acronyms or other
abbreviations, as shown below.
(a) Shortened words are often used without the writer being aware of the
original form.
‘Bus’ comes from ‘omnibus’, which is hardly used in modern English.
However, ‘refrigerator’ is still better in written English than the informal
‘fridge’.
‘Public house’ is now very formal (‘pub’ is acceptable), but ‘television’ or
‘TV’ should be used instead of the idiomatic ‘telly’.
(b) Acronyms are made up of the initial letters of a name or phrase (e.g. AIDS
= Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). They are pronounced as
words.
(c) Other abbreviations are read as sets of individual letters. They include
names of countries, organisations and companies (USA/ BBC/ IBM), and
also abbreviations that are only found in written English (e.g. PTO means
‘please turn over’).
Note that in many cases abbreviations are widely used without most
users knowing what the individual letters stand for (e.g. DNA, DVD).
SOME COMMON ABBREVIATIONS
AGM annual general meeting BA Bachelor of Arts BSc Bachelor of Sciences
CV curriculum vitae DIY do-it-yourself EU European Union
further education (non-
FE university study above 18) GM genetically modified GNP gross national product
Postgraduate Certificate of
MSc Master of Science PG Postgraduate PGCE Education
However, writers also employ more specialised abbreviations in texts, which are explained in
brackets on first use:
Starting from the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, it is argued that . . .
The Technology Readiness Index (TRI) was introduced by Parasuraman (2000).
PUNCTUATION
There are many standard abbreviations that have a full stop after them to
show that it is a shortened form (lt. = litre).
Other examples are govt. (government), co. (company) and Oct.
(October).
There is, however, a tendency to use full stops less. The important thing is to
employ a consistent style in your work.
DUPLICATE ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations can be confusing.
PC, for example, may stand for ‘personal computer’ but also ‘politically
correct’ or ‘Police Constable’.
Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join.
Subordinating conjunctions usually come at the beginning of the subordinate clause.