Page 163 - English Vocabualry In Use 3 (Upper Intermediate)

78 Abbreviations and acronyms

A Abbreviations pronounced as individual letters

Mostabbreviationsarepronouncedasindividualletters.
Abbreviationsforgroupsororganisations:

BBC BritishBroadcastingCorporation
CIA CentralIntelligenceAgency(USgovernmentagencycollectinginformationaboutothercountries)
EU EuropeanUnion
FBI FederalBureauofInvestigation
MI6 MilitaryIntelligence6(UKequivalentofCIA)
WHO WorldHealthOrganisation

Otherabbreviationspronouncedasindividualletters:

ID Identity(anidentitycardorpassport)
GM geneticallymodified
DNA deoxyribonucleicacid(chemicalatthecentreoflivingcells)
FAQ frequentlyaskedquestions
AKA alsoknownas
IOU Ioweyou
ATM automatedtellermachine(cashmachineusuallyoutsideabank)
ASAP assoonaspossible

Language help

When these abbreviations are stressed words in the sentence, the stress falls on the last letter,
e.g. She works for the CIA. I heard it on the BBC.

B Abbreviations pronounced as words

Abbreviationspronouncedasindividualwordsarecalledacronyms.
NATO /neɪtiəʊ/ NorthAtlanticTreatyOrganisation

PIN /pɪn/ PersonalIdentityNumber(e.g.forabankorcreditcard)
SAD seasonalaffectivedisorder(lacking energy and enthusiasm in
winter in latitudes where there is little sunlight at that time)

AWOL /eɪwɒl/ absentwithoutleave[permission; usually used in military contexts]

Someacronymshavebecomesonormalaswordsthatpeopledonotthinkofthemasabbreviations
anylonger,andsotheyarenotwrittenincapitalletters.
laser radar scuba sonar

C Clippings

Somewordsareoftenusedinanabbreviatedformininformalsituations.Wesay,forexample,kilo
insteadof‘kilogram’orgigfor‘gigabyte’.Otherexamplesinclude:
air con (airconditioning) satnav (satellitenavigationsystem)
uni(university) mobile(mobilephone)or(US)cell(cellphone)

carbs(carbohydrates) sci-fi(sciencefiction) high-tech(high-technology)

D Written abbreviations

Someabbreviationsaremostfrequentlyusedinwriting.

PTO Pleaseturnover(turntothenextpage)
PS postscript(writtenattheendofamessageorletter,whenyouwanttoaddsomethingelse)
RSVP Répondezs’ilvousplaît(French,meaning‘pleaseanswer’)(writtenattheendofaninvitation,
toindicatethatyoushouldreply)
RIP Restinpeace(oftenwrittenonaheadstonewheresomeoneisburiedaftertheyhavedied)

162 English Vocabulary in Use Upper-intermediate