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WHERE YOU MAY GET IT WRONG

WHEN WRITING ENGLISH abbreVIatIons and aCronyms

6.2 In AmE, abbreviations are normally separated by a period or a full stop. In BrE, they are not separated by a period. Acronyms are normally written without periods in both varieties.

The P.R. people for the Oscars are busy coming up with cute headlines for their now daily announcements of the latest bold-faced names slated to appear on Sunday’s show.

(LA Times)

Prime Minister Brian Cowen was meeting U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. (LA Times)

The US is awaiting Israel’s response to its request for gestures to reassure the Palestinians.

(BBC)

A Nobel peace prize-winning Welsh physicist says climate change scientists are losing “a PR war” against sceptics with vested interests. (BBC) 

NOTE The general rule in AmE is to use periods when the letters of an abbreviation stand for separate words. No periods separate the letters of an acronym – an abbreviation pronounced as one word – in both varieties of English. Acronyms are generally in uppercase if they are up to four letters long: SALT, AIDS, NATO. Acronyms of five or more letters are upper-and-lowercased: Unicef, Unesco, Oxfam, Awacs. Exceptions exist, and the dictionary is the best guide: modem, radar, UNDP, UNHCR. Also note that The New York Times writes abbreviations of broadcasting services, networks and stations without periods (i.e., CNN, PBS, NPR, BBC, KPFA ).

6.3 If the abbreviation is mentioned only once or twice, then you will need to write the full expression.

6.4 If, however, the abbreviation occurs several times, then you should spell it out the first time it is used:

FSA report into RBS failure faces review

An investigation which cleared Royal Bank of Scotland of any wrongdoing in the run-up to the financial crisis is to be reviewed, it has been announced.

The Treasury Committee said the report, which was carried out by the Financial Services Authority, would be looked at by independent experts.

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The FSA said last year that RBS made “a series of bad decisions” but there was no fraudulent or dishonest activity.

The report has not yet been published in full.

Lord Turner, chairman of the FSA, welcomed the review.

“There is strong public interest in having a clear account of the causes of RBS’ failure,”

he said.

“The appointment of the independent reviewers will provide public assurance of the report’s openness and contribute to its quality.”

As well as looking into the causes of RBS’s failure, the independent review will also look at the FSA’s regulation and supervision of RBS and “identify any deficiencies and actions taken by the FSA subsequently”, a statement said.

“We need to know the decisive mistakes which destroyed RBS, how they came to be made, whether the FSA was asleep at the wheel, and whether we can have confidence that they are awake now,” said chairman of the Treasury Committee Andrew Tyrie. (BBC)

6.5 You can repeat the abbreviation as it is throughout your writing. It is sometimes necessary to use part of it or to repeat it by using different but relevant words and phrases:

GM earns $3.2 billion in 1Q on strong car sales, gain from former parts division Delphi DETROIT – General Motors says its first-quarter net income more than tripled on strong car sales in the U.S. and China.

The company’s first-quarter net income totaled $3.2 billion, or $1.77 per share, one of its best performances since the SUV boom in the early 2000s. It was GM’s fifth straight quarterly profit since late 2009, the year it emerged from bankruptcy.

Quarterly revenue rose 15 percent to $36.2 billion. Worldwide sales climbed 12 percent, including a 25-percent jump in the U.S.

GM’s net income includes a $1.6 billion gain from the sale of its stake in Delphi Automotive, its former auto parts division. Without one-time items, GM earned 82 cents per share.

GM earned $900 million, or 55 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2010. (BBC)

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WHERE YOU MAY GET IT WRONG

WHEN WRITING ENGLISH abbreVIatIons and aCronyms

6.6 Note that some abbreviations such as the EU or UK are more common than the terms they stand for. In this case, there is probably no need to spell them out:

EU court backs UK expat disability benefit restriction

Britons living in the rest of the EU cannot claim the mobility element of UK disability benefit, the EU Court of Justice has confirmed.

Three people challenged the decision to stop their allowance several years ago because they moved abroad. (BBC)

6.7 It is quite common to keep abbreviations in headlines and titles. But you need to clarify them at the earliest possible opportunity, preferably in the first paragraph of your story or report:

ANC fury at apartheid song ban (headline) 

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has expressed…. (BBC)

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NNE and Pharmaplan have joined forces to create NNE Pharmaplan, the world’s leading engineering and consultancy company focused entirely on the pharma and biotech industries.

Inés Aréizaga Esteva (Spain), 25 years old Education: Chemical Engineer

NNE Pharmaplan is the world’s leading engineering and consultancy company focused entirely on the pharma and biotech industries. We employ more than 1500 people worldwide and offer global reach and local knowledge along with our all-encompassing list of services. nnepharmaplan.com

– You have to be proactive and open-minded as a newcomer and make it clear to your colleagues what you are able to cope. The pharmaceutical fi eld is new to me. But busy as they are, most of my colleagues fi nd the time to teach me, and they also trust me.

Even though it was a bit hard at fi rst, I can feel over time that I am beginning to be taken seriously and that my contribution is appreciated.

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