Acronyms are words which were created by taking the first letter (or several letters) of each word of a phrase.
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Do you use “a” or “an” before acronyms?
99% of the time, I'm clear on when I should use "a" versus "an." There's one case, though, where people & references I respect disagree.
Which of the following would you precede with "a" or "an," ...
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What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym?
For example, if I wanted to write the equivalent of
There are many automated teller machines in this city.
Would it be
There are many ATMs in this city.
or
There are many ATM's in ...
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7answers
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Plurals of acronyms, letters, numbers — use an apostrophe or not?
When I was in high school back in the 1970s, I was taught that to make a plural of an acronym, a letter, or a number, one should add an apostrophe and "s". Like I would have written this sentence, ...
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3answers
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Difference between an acronym and abbreviation?
TLA is an acronym for "Three Letter Acronym". Is it also an abbreviation, since it abbreviates the original phrase?
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“PIN Number” — why do we say it?
We often say "PIN Number", this is part of everyday conversation. But why?
PIN stands for Personal Identification Number, so what we're actually saying is Personal Identification Number Number.
Is ...
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1answer
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Using the definite article with acronyms and initialisms
I'm wondering when to use or not to use the definite article, when using acronyms or initialisms in a sentence. Is there a rule for this, or does it depend on the context?
For example, let's look at ...
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Past participle of a verb created from an acronym
Standard GPL would require that those applications be GPL'd (or compatible licensing), whereas LGPL requires only the library's source to be made available.
Is the use of words like GPL'd common ...
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Opposite of acronym
If U.N. is the acronym of United Nations, then United Nations is the what of U.N.?
Is there an opposite of acronym?
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Pronouncing acronyms
I've noticed that some people in my office spell out "data import tool" as D. I. T., whereas others will say "dit" (like "ditty"). Is trying to pronounce an acronym as a word, as opposed to spelling ...
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2answers
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Is there a word for an acronym which spells out one of its component words?
The example I am thinking of is GNU, which stands for "GNU's not unix".
It may be that there are no other examples. And maybe that's the whole joke. I was just wondering.
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What is the commonly accepted pronunciation of FAQ?
I hear FAQ(s) pronounced like a word in "FACK(s)", while I go letter by letter. In usage, what is more common?
(Similar to SQL vs Sequel)
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2answers
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Can a word that sounds the same as the way it is spelt be an initialism and an acronym?
Initialisms are pronounced as words and acronyms are spelt letters. However, some words sound the same, said and spelt.
e.g. Input Output can be abbreviated as IO. It can be spelt I-O or pronounced ...
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4answers
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Why did they spell it “URL’s”?
I was reading this documentation file of some software and note the plural spelling of this abbreviation is “URL’s”. Why isn’t it “URLs”?
8
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4answers
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Proper capitalization of commonly used acronyms
I was always under impression, that acronyms ought to be written all caps. However reading BBC News site very often I see some of the common acronyms written as proper names (first cap). For example ...
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5answers
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When did the use of acronyms begin? [closed]
What are some of the earliest acronyms and did they know it was an acronym at the time?
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3answers
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Plural form of the acronym LASER
I'm writing a technical report and must use the plural form of LASER. Seeing as it is an acronym, how does one add the 's'?
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4answers
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Are the acronyms FYI, BTW, LOL, WTF now considered “normal” words?
Are these "words" moving out of the elitist slang stage and into popular usage? It is hard for me to tell, because in the techie culture I work in they are ubiquitous. However, I've tried them out ...
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3answers
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Why is the plural acronym “CSS” treated as singular?
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets, which is a plural phrase. One would say:
Cascading Style Sheets are used to provide a central location for all of the stylings of a project.
However, it ...
8
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2answers
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Is there a word for the definition of an acronym?
I can describe "IMHO" as an acronym for "in my humble opinion." How can I describe the reverse processes of translating the acronym into the actual phrase? That is to say, if "IMHO" is the acronym, ...
8
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5answers
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Correct capitalization for “of” in an acronym definition
For an acronym that includes the word "of", do you capitalize its usage within the definition (or expansion) of the acronym
For example, in the follow sentence:
My coworker Steve suffers from ...
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2answers
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Is it appropriate to treat “FYI” as a noun?
Since FYI stands for "for your information", I would tend to use it like this:
FYI, I think the fish has gone bad.
In other words, the acronym simply replaces the phrase. However, I've heard FYI ...
5
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2answers
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Is the meaning of the acronym “FAQ” generally understood?
When people see the acronym FAQ, I wonder if they really know what it stands for or whether they just understand the concept.
Is this true for most native English speakers?
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2answers
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How to avoid repeating a word already contained in “RAID”?
I was recently answering a question on Super User about RAID. In this context RAID means "redundant array of independent (or inexpensive) disks". I wanted to point out to fellow user that he should ...
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0answers
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An or A with acronyms which sound like they start with a vowel? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Do you use “a” or “an” before acronyms?
Should you use An or A with acronyms which sound like they start with a vowel when read literally?
...is ...
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1answer
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Defining an acronym when using the plural of the term? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym?
I am defining an acronym which will be substituted for some unwieldy term in a document.
One thing Gary has talked ...
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4answers
724 views
“An RV” or “a RV”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Do you use “a” or “an” before acronyms?
I am writing about Random Variables, which I am abbreviating to RV. Should I write 'an RV' (an Arr-Vee) ...
