Abbreviations & Acronyms

Abbreviations and acronyms are shortened forms of words or phrases used to save space and speed up communication. They are very common in business writing, emails, technical documents, and meetings.

• An abbreviation shortens a word (e.g., 'approx.' for 'approximately').
• An acronym is formed from initial letters and is pronounced as a word (e.g., 'NATO').
• An initialism is formed from initials and pronounced letter by letter (e.g., 'FBI').
• Use the full form first in formal documents, then the abbreviation in parentheses.

Always write the full term the first time you use it, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. After that, you can use the abbreviation alone.

• First mention: Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• Later mentions: The CEO will present the report.
• Use capitals for acronyms and initialisms: NATO, R&D.
• Decide whether your audience prefers periods (U.S. style) or no periods, and be consistent.

For formal reports, define unfamiliar abbreviations at first use.

Learners often make predictable errors when using abbreviations and acronyms. Watch out for these universal mistakes:

• Adding an apostrophe to make an acronym plural (wrong: CEO's for multiple CEOs).
• Inconsistent punctuation (mixing periods and no periods within the same document).
• Not defining obscure abbreviations on first use, which confuses readers.
• Using the wrong article because of spelling rather than pronunciation (use 'an' before a vowel sound: an MBA).

Be consistent and keep the reader in mind.