Definition and Examples of Abbreviations in English

Definition and Examples of Abbreviations in English An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase, such as Jan. for January. The abbreviated form of the word abbreviation is  abbr. - or, less commonly, abbrv. or abbrev. In American English, many abbreviations are followed by a period (Dr., Ms.). In contrast, British usage generally favors omitting the period (or full stop) in abbreviations that include the first and last letters of a single word (Dr, Ms). When an abbreviation appears at the end of a sentence, a single period serves both to mark the abbreviation and to close the sentence. Linguist David Crystal notes that abbreviations are a major component of the English writing system, not a marginal feature. The largest dictionaries of abbreviations contain well over half a million entries, and their number is increasing all the time (Spell It Out, 2014). Here are some common examples of variousl types of abbreviations: AcronymBackronymCommonly Confused Latin Abbreviations in EnglishCommon Revision Symbols and AbbreviationsCommon Scholarly AbbreviationsE.g. and I.e.Etc. and Et al.InitialeseInitialismLogograph Etymology Abbreviation comes from the Latin word brevis meaning short. Examples and Observations In general, spell out the names of government bureaus and agencies, well-known organizations, companies, etc., on first reference. In later references, use short forms like the agency or the company when possible because handfuls of initials make for mottled typography and choppy prose.Abbreviations may be ironic, humorous, or whimsical: for example, the rail link between the town of Bedford and the London station of St. Pancras is locally known as the Bedpan Line; a comparable link for Boston, New York, and Washington is the Bosnywash circuit. Comments on life may be telescoped into such sardonic packages as: BOGSAT a Bunch Of Guys Sitting Around a Table (making decisions about other people); GOMER Get Out of My Emergency Room (said by physicians to hypochondriacs); MMMBA Miles and Miles of Bloody Africa (an in-group term among people who have to travel those miles); TGIF Thank God Its Friday (after a particularly hard working week).AbbrevesToday, the fave (for favorite’) abb reves are obvi (a shortening of Thank you, Captain Obvious’) and belig (a clipping of belligerent, retaining the soft g). Nobody in the young-barflies crowd orders the usual’; it’s the yoozh. My grandnephew Jesse concludes sentences with whatev, which is probs (for probably’) whatever. In this cacophony of abbreves, word endings are scattered all over the floor. Go fig. Totes include for at,  Ã‚ £ for pound, % for per cent, and for plus. The ampersand, , is one of the oldest. It is a collapsed version of the Latin word et, and: the bottom circle is whats left of the e, and the rising tail on the right is whats left of the t. Numerals are another kind that we read as 1, 2, 3, etc. as one, two, three... And it is part of the business of learning to read and write to know when we should write words in their logographic form and when to spell them out. Sources A. Siegal,  The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, 1999 Tom McArthur,  The Oxford Companion to the English Language, 1992 William Safire, Abbreve  That Template.  The New York Times Magazine, May 21, 2009 Jeff Guo, The Totes  Amazesh  Way Millennials Are Changing the English Language.  The Washington Post, January 13, 2016 David Crystal,  Spell It Out. Picador, 2014

Taken Aback

Taken Aback Taken Aback Taken Aback By Maeve Maddox A reader encountering the expression â€Å"taken aback† looked it up in the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, where he found this example of usage: â€Å"I was a little taken aback at the directness of the question.† However, he also found â€Å"taken aback by† and â€Å"taken aback that† in other printed sources. He wants to know what rule, if any, determines what word should follow the expression. â€Å"Taken aback† is used as an adjective meaning â€Å"shocked, amazed, astounded.† In modern usage, it is frequently followed by an adjective complement. Note: An adjective complement is a clause or phrase that adds to the meaning of an adjective or modifies it. The adjective complement always follows the adjective it complements and is a noun clause or a prepositional phrase. A web search yields numerous examples of â€Å"taken aback† followed by a noun clause beginning with that: New Jersey imam â€Å"taken aback† that his mosque was under surveillance Which actress thinks you’re taken aback that she’s ‘easygoing but not necessarily stupid’? Im a little taken aback that you have reg priced a Hasbro F/X star wars lightsaber at 48.00 then put it at 50% off. I was taken aback that this kind of diatribe could actually make [its] way to the general public. When â€Å"taken aback† is followed by a prepositional phrase, the usual preposition used is by, although both with and at are seen. The adverb aback has been in the language since Old English times. Two of its meanings are â€Å"in a backward direction† and â€Å"behind.† As an adverb with the figurative meaning of â€Å"in the past,† aback still occurs in regional dialect: â€Å"Werent it you I saw ride that grey mare over on Wondala a couple of years aback?†(OED example: A. Agar Queensland Ringer (2008) v. 40).â€Å"   Ã‚   The earliest OED example of â€Å"taken aback† to mean â€Å"surprised,† â€Å"shocked,† or â€Å"disconcerted† is dated 1751. This sense arose from a sailing term: taken aback: (transitive verb in the passive) Of a sail: to be suddenly pressed back against the mast, preventing forward progress, either through bad steering or a change in the wind. Of a ship, etc.: to be caught in this way. A person who is â€Å"taken aback† is momentarily â€Å"thrown off course† by some event or remark. Of the 18 examples offered in the OED for both the literal and figurative use of the expression, only four are followed by a prepositional phrase, two of which are governed by with and two of which begin with by. Other dictionaries offer usage examples with the preposition at, but a search on the Google Ngram Viewer suggests that by is by far the most common choice. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Farther vs. FurtherEnglish Grammar 101: Verb MoodWriting a Thank You Note