Abbreviations
Q. Hello, another question from New Zealand. I am unsure as to the rules for spelling out what abbreviations stand for. In the passage I am proofreading, we refer to the DSD and the BPD, which stand for the design strategy document and the business process document, respectively. Am I right in thinking these should be lowercase when written in full? Answer »
Q. Should a noun that is represented by an acronym be initial capped upon first reference, e.g., ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) vs. Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI)? Also, would this noun be initial capped (sans acronym) throughout the rest of the document? Answer »
Q. As a graduate of the College at the University of Chicago, I received an A.B. degree in anthropology. I have traditionally listed my degree as “A.B. Anthropology, University of Chicago.” However, in preparing my résumé for inclusion in proposals, my employer wants to list it as “B.A. Anthropology, University of Chicago.” What is the correct format, or is there no difference? Answer »
Q. Most people no longer use a typewriter and carbon paper when making a copy of a letter. Does that mean that “cc” should now be just “c”? Answer »
Q. I am surprised that you spell Ms (as in Ms Helen Jones) with a period (Ms. Helen Jones). Nothing is being abbreviated (as in Mr. or Mrs.). Our University Senate adopted plain Ms in its documents some time ago! Answer »
Q. Hello. I’m editing this passage: “I liked not ever knowing when I was going to be UA’d, because in the beginning of my treatment it made me stay off the pills.” UA stands for “urinalysis.” Is it correct to include an apostrophe in “UA’d”? Would appreciate your help very much. Answer »
Q. What if Turabian says to use periods with A.D. and B.C. but CMOS recommends no periods—when Turabian is the guide specified for a thesis? Answer »
Q. Dear Sir or Madam: My client prefers to use the article a before an abbreviation such as LCMOS. I suggest using an, since the letter L is pronounced “ell.” What does the Chicago Manual of Style recommend? Answer »
Q. I’m editing an army paper, and they put EVERYTHING in caps, which I reduce to lowercase when possible. Is the following okay, or do the spelled-out names get lowercased in such cases? “For analysis purposes, the Fatigue-Avoidance Scheduling Tool (FAST), based on the Sleep, Activity, Fatigue, and Task-Effectiveness (SAFTE) model. . . .” Answer »
Q. I work for a technical magazine. I’ve always been taught that when it comes to acronyms, the rule is you spell out the words first followed by the acronym in parentheses, and then use the acronym for later references in the copy. If there are no other mentions of the acronym later in the copy, then you just spell it out without the acronym in parentheses. Is this correct? My coworker is debating this with me. Thanks!!!!!!! Answer »
Q. Would you please explain when to use “e.g.” and when to use “i.e.?” Thank you. Answer »
Q. We have a new employee who holds two PhDs. She insists on having her name listed as “Jane Doe, PhD, PhD.” We are in a university environment and agree that degrees are important, but doesn’t this seem a bit much? Answer »
Q. More often in bibliographic citations, I am seeing the abbreviations s.l. and s.n. in place of n.p. where the place and/or publisher are unknown. What do these abbreviations mean, and are they likely to take over n.p.? Answer »
Q. I am trying to find out when you write if you say “an MBA” or “a MBA.” Here is the example I’m trying to figure out: He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Answer »
Q. I am a graduate of the U of C and working in an environment surrounded by colleagues with Oxon and Cantab after their degrees (Oxon and Cantab being abbreviations for the Latinized forms for Oxford and Cambridge; see section 10.43 of CMOS 16). Here is my stupid question: Is there a Latinized form for “Chicago” that I could use similarly? Although the word Chicago is certainly not of Indo-European origin, that certainly would not deter someone from its Latinization. Answer »
Q. I hope you can resolve a dispute between me and my editor. After introducing an acronym, e.g., “Bureau of Land Management,” to “BLM,” I like to drop the “the” in introducing it. For example, I think the least awkward way is to say “BLM is charged with the oversight of . . .” as opposed to “The BLM is . . .” Do you have any rule that covers this issue? Answer »
Q. Do you recommend the use of BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era) instead of BC and AD? Has the debate about these been settled or is it still in flux? Answer »
Q. We want to know the usage of “etc.” at the END of a sentence, that is, as the last word of a sentence. Is it spelled out? Answer »
Q. How should we handle file extensions like PDF (portable document format, an Adobe Acrobat file)—lowercase, preceded by a period, or all uppercase? Other examples are GIF and JPG (or JPEG). Answer »
Q. In running text, what is the preferred way to write “Washington, D.C.”? Answer »
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