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Making Abbreviations: Acronyms, Initialisms

时间:2022-12-08 02:07:50

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(单词翻译)

Making Abbreviations: Acronyms2, Initialisms

Have you ever seen, heard, or used these words before?

"LOL."

"Scuba3"

"ASAP"

If you have, you know they are shortenings of longer expressions called abbreviations.

So how can we make abbreviations? In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will look at two ways to make abbreviations. Both by using the initials of the words we want to shorten.

By the end of this report you will start to identify abbreviations and maybe even start making some of your own!

What are abbreviations?

Abbreviations are shortened forms of words or phrases. They are used instead of the original words that they represent. For example, "appt." is an abbreviation for the word "appointment."

We often use abbreviations in everyday life. Like when we write the time in the United States, we use the abbreviations "a.m." and "p.m." These are short for the Latin expressions "ante meridiem" meaning before noon and "post meridiem" for after noon.

We can also use abbreviations for other time periods, also. For example, we might shorten the word for the month of "November" to "Nov." And we use them in other forms of online communication, especially in text messaging and in social media. Like "NVM" for "never mind" or "LOL" for "laugh out loud."

There are many words in English that we do not realize are actually abbreviations like "scuba" or "laser."

These are actually acronyms, and they are just one way to make abbreviations of longer phrases.

Let's look closer at acronyms.

What are acronyms?

Acronyms are a type of abbreviation for a longer phrase or group of words. We use the first letter of each word to create the acronym1. Acronyms are said as a whole word.

For example, we have the acronym "NASA," which stands for the National Aeronautics4 and Space Administration.

NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first person to step on the moon.

Since acronyms are said as a whole word, sometimes we do not even know they are acronyms. This has happened with the word "scuba."

Scuba is an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus5.

S stands for self.

C stands for contained.

U is for underwater.

B is breathing.

A is for apparatus.

We do not say each individual letter. We pronounce the acronym as a whole, "scuba."

Here is an example of how we would use "scuba" in a sentence.

She wants to take scuba diving lessons before her trip to Hawaii.

Another example of this is the word "laser." A laser is a narrow beam of intense light. We also call the devices that can create such energy, lasers. But, laser is an acronym of the words light amplification6 by stimulated7 emission8 of radiation.

L is for light.

A stands for amplification

S is stimulated

E is for emission

R stand for radiation.

Notice that the prepositions of "by" and "of" are not included in the acronym. Such smaller words are often removed in abbreviated9 forms.

But not always. The international alliance ECOWAS is an example. It stands for the Economic Community of West African States. The letter "O" for "of" remains10 in the shortened version.

The same is true for "DOJ," or the Department of Justice. However, the abbreviation of the Department of Justice to DOJ does not make it an acronym.

DOJ is, in fact, an initialism, which brings us to our next subject.

What are initialisms?

Initialisms are also abbreviations like acronyms, but instead of being read as a whole word, they are read as the alphabet letter or initial of each word.

For example, Voice of America is V.O.A. Each letter is read by itself.

Government agencies often go by initialisms. Another place you can see them is in the world of universities. Degrees, for example are most often represented that way. For example, if you completed a 4-year program of study in astronomy, you would earn a B.S. degree, meaning a Bachelor of Science. Other degrees include A.A. or A.S., meaning Associate of Arts or Associate of Science. Higher level degrees are called Masters.

I have my M.A. in TESOL, or teaching English to speakers of other languages.

And a Ph.D. is actually an initialism for the Latin term "philosophiae doctor" or, in English, Doctor of Philosophy.

VOA Learning English's Dr. Jill has a Ph.D. in Applied11 Linguistics12.

Some abbreviations can be read as either acronyms or initialisms like in this abbreviation, A.S.A.P., or ASAP. They stand for "as soon as possible."

Please send Louise the money ASAP so she can pay the phone bill.

Closing thoughts

In today's report, we learned how to create two kinds of abbreviations. We can create abbreviations by shortening a word or phrase. If shortening a phrase, we can take the first letter of each word in the phrase and put them together to create either an acronym or an initialism.

We also learned the difference between these two. An acronym is pronounced as a whole word like the word "NASA." In an initialism, each letter is said separately like in Voice of America or V.O.A.

Now it's your turn. At the end of this lesson is a list of abbreviations.

Tell us if you think the abbreviation is an acronym or an initialism or just a regular abbreviation. And then tell us what the abbreviation means.

You can write your answers in the comments or send us an email at [email protected].

And that's Everyday Grammar!

List of abbreviations for homework:

BRB

Apt.

D.C.

FOMO

FAQ

DIY

POTUS

Radar13

NATO

Words in This Story

initial – adj. or n. occurring at the beginning of something; the first letter of a name or word

aeronautics – n. a science that deals with airplanes and flying

self-contained – adj. not requiring help or support from anyone or anything else

apparatus – n. a tool or piece of equipment used for specific activities

pronounce – v. to make the sound of (a word or letter) with your voice

amplification – n. an act, example or product of making something louder by increasing its strength

stimulated – adj. to describe making something more active or exciting to activity or growth

emission – n. the act of producing or sending out something (such as energy or gas) from a source

linguistics – n. the study of language and of the way languages work


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 acronym Ny8zN     
n.首字母简略词,简称
参考例句:
  • That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说,这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
  • TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理,储存和处置设施的一个缩写。
2 acronyms a2987b4e53247549016e1ad4dde017b4     
n.首字母缩略词( acronym的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Scratch the subject of defence and acronyms, abbreviations, and buzzwords fly out. 话题触及国防,缩合字,缩写字和行话就满天飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Some acronyms as scientific terminology are used as a lexical item. 一些科学术语缩写用作词汇项目。 来自互联网
3 scuba YjDzRf     
n.水中呼吸器
参考例句:
  • I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
  • While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。
4 aeronautics BKVyg     
n.航空术,航空学
参考例句:
  • National Aeronautics and Space undertakings have made great progress.国家的航空航天事业有了很大的发展。
  • He devoted every spare moment to aeronautics.他把他所有多余的时间用在航空学上。
5 apparatus ivTzx     
n.装置,器械;器具,设备
参考例句:
  • The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
  • They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。
6 amplification pLvyI     
n.扩大,发挥
参考例句:
  • The voice of despair may be weak and need amplification.绝望的呼声可能很微弱,需要扩大。
  • Some of them require further amplification.其中有些内容需进一步详细阐明。
7 stimulated Rhrz78     
a.刺激的
参考例句:
  • The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
  • The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。
8 emission vjnz4     
n.发出物,散发物;发出,散发
参考例句:
  • Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施,降低污染物排放总量。
  • Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后,指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。
9 abbreviated 32a218f05db198fc10c9206836aaa17a     
adj. 简短的,省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多,令人费解。
  • The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。
10 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
11 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
12 linguistics f0Gxm     
n.语言学
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。
13 radar kTUxx     
n.雷达,无线电探测器
参考例句:
  • They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
  • Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

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