Others take a more tradional approach and use a full stop. Some people prefer the modern approach and use no full stop. How do we punctuate initialisms? Do we put a full stop/period after each letter? The written version is simply mimicking the spoken version. Other contractions are spoken contractions designed to save time and effort in speaking. Say: department - foot or feet - government - Reverend - Saint - Boulevard - manufacturing Write: dept - ft - govt - Revd - St - Blvd - mfg We almost always pronounce these in full-the same as the full form. Some contractions are written contractions designed to save space in text. In contractions of more than one word, the missing letters are replaced by an apostrophe ( can't, she'd've). Some people put a full stop at the end ( govt., Revd.) but strictly speaking there is no need because the last letter of the contraction is the same as the last letter of the full form ( govt, Revd). Say and write: ad - app - zoo - bike - wellies Shortenings that are designed to save time and effort in speaking are of course spoken in the short form. Say: continued - Corporation - enclosed - November - Professor Shortenings that are designed to save space in writing are usually (but not always) spoken like the full form (so we typically say 'continued' not ' cont.'). If the full form starts with a capital letter, then the shortening must start with a capital letter ( Monday → Mon., approximately → approx.) Pronunciation You can use either style, but the important thing is to be consistent. Others prefer a more traditional approach and use a full stop (which indicates that the rest of the word is missing). Some writers and publishers prefer the modern approach and use no full stop. How do we punctuate shortenings? Do we put a full stop/period at the end?įor abbreviations that we use like words (the last five above, for example), we do not use a full stop at the end.įor the rest (the first five in the table above, for example), this is to some extent a question of style. Notice too that for such shortenings there may sometimes be a slight change of spelling ( bike, wellies). Note that some shortenings (the last five here, for example) have entered the language as words or informal words, that is, some people may be unaware that they are abbreviations of something longer.

Abbreviations for words in english