A Military Writer's Handbook | |||
Words |
Abbreviations and Acronyms Abbreviations are more common and generally more accepted in technical writing, but in non-technical writing are kept to a minimum. When providing an acronym for the first time, identify its full name followed by the accepted abbreviation, e.g. Assistive Technology Computer Lab (ATCL), except in the case of popular acronyms such as RCMP, MP, CBC, IQ, CD, DNA, HIV, PTSD, etc. The standard guide to abbreviations for DND writing is Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic database, Termium, accessible from most Government of Canada networked computers.
1. When it is acceptable to use abbreviations a) Titles before proper nouns. (In DND writing, abbreviated titles are never given a final period to indicate omitted letters. Abbreviated French titles that include the last letter of the full word do not appear with periods.)
b) Titles and degrees after proper names.
c) Standard words used with dates and numbers.
d) Agencies and organizations commonly known by their acronyms.
e) Scientific or technical terms usually of considerable length, and known by their initials.
f) Common Latin abbreviations used in English. In formal writing it is preferable to use the corresponding English phrases for these Latin abbreviations. However, in parenthetical comments and footnotes, Latin abbreviations are more acceptable.
2. When to use periods a) Geographical abbreviations, except for the two-character symbols recommended by Canada Post.
b) Most lower-case abbreviated phrases.
c) At the end of abbreviations for single words.
d) After the initials of a person`s name.
3. When not to use periods a) Chemical symbols and mathematical abbreviations.
b) The International System of Units (SI) symbols and units.
c) Military rank abbreviations (see below). d) Short forms of words.
e) Acronyms ending with or consisting exclusively of upper-case letters.
4. Plurals and Possessives a) For the plural, simply add an s to most abbreviations; for the possessive, add an apostrophe s (`s).
b) Use an apostrophe s to form the plural of numerical names of aircraft ending in a single letter.
c) In cases where the resulting form would be ambiguous, add an apostrophe before the s.
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