Vocabulary Guide: Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Contractions in English

Vocabulary: Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Contractions

Understanding the Basics

Abbreviations and acronyms are shortened forms of words or phrases. An abbreviation is typically a shortened form of words used to represent the whole (such as Dr. or Prof.) while an acronym contains a set of initial letters from a phrase that usually form another word (such as radar or scuba).

Abbreviations and acronyms are often interchanged, yet the two are quite distinct. The main point of reference is that abbreviations are merely a series of letters while acronyms form new words.

We use contractions (I’m, we’re) in everyday speech and informal writing. Contractions, which are sometimes called ‘short forms’, commonly combine a pronoun or noun and a verb, or a verb and not, in a shorter form.

Common Contractions

Contractions with I, you, he, she, it, we, and they:

• ’m = am (I’m)
• ’re = are (you’re, we’re, they’re)
• ’s = is and has (he’s, she’s, it’s)
• ’ve = have (’ve, you’ve, we’ve, they’ve)
• ’ll = will (I’ll, you’ll, he’ll, she’ll, it’ll, we’ll, they’ll)
• ’d = had and would (I’d, you’d, he’d, she’d, it’d, we’d, they’d)

Contractions with auxiliary verb and not:

The contraction for not is n’t:

• aren’t = are not (we aren’t, you aren’t)
• can’t = cannot
• couldn’t = could not
• didn’t = did not (I didn’t, they didn’t)

C. Pick out the contractions from the lesson and expand them.

Contractions : Expansions

• that’s : that is
• I’m : I am
• you’re : you are
• It’s : It is
• she’s : she is
• Don’t : Do not
• didn’t : did not
• can’t : can not
• I’d, we’d : I would, we would
• they’re : they are

Examples of Abbreviations

We can abbreviate the following:

D. Expand the following abbreviations or acronyms

1. SIM : Subscriber Identification Module
2. ISRO : Indian Space Research Organization
3. WHO : World Health Organization
4. CCTV : Closed-Circuit Television
5. HDMI : High-Definition Multimedia Interface
6. LASER : Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
7. MRI : Magnetic Resonance Imaging
8. CRY : Child Rights and You
9. RAM : Random Access Memory
10. ROM : Read-Only-Memory
11. CPU : Central Processing Unit
12. ALU : Arithmetic Logic Unit

E. Complete the sentences with the correct abbreviations or acronyms from the given list.

a.m. etc. BCE e.g HD m IQ GPS p.m. vs

1. My dad wakes up very early in the morning because he has to be at work at 6.00 a.m.
2. Socrates, the famous Classical Greek Athenian philosopher, died in 399 BCE.
3. Leonardo Da Vinci was a famous Italian polymath, a painter, a sculptor, an architect, a musician, a scientist etc.
4. I usually return home from work at 10.30 p.m. .
5. John downloaded a clip from YouTube in HD quality.
6. There are many irregular verbs in the English language, e.g. break, do, make.
7. I’m watching a great football match, Barcelona vs Real Madrid.
8. Humans who dive without protection can survive 300 m under water.
9. A 11-year-old girl just beat Einstein on an IQ test.
10. We used the GPS facility to track the location.