Abbreviations and Acronyms in English Speaking

Abbreviations are short forms of words or phrases that are widely used.

Acronym is a short form (one word) of a phrase consisting of first letters of each word in the phrase.

Commonly used abbreviations are:

E.g. is used in place of ‘for example’. It is used for giving one or more examples.  

•             There are many things you can buy from here e.g. headphones, speakers, music system for your car etc. 

cf. is used in place of ‘compare’. It is an abbreviation for latin word ‘confer’. It is used for referring to another given book, document or statement.  Sometimes it is used in place of ‘see’. 

i.e. is used in place of ‘that is’ in written language before giving an explanation about something. 

•             We need to catch the afternoon’s bus i.e. we need to have lunch and finish our shopping in two hours. 

viz. is used in written English when we want to say something in detail or be exact about what we’re saying.

•             We both are going to Dharamshala viz. we will stay there and practice Buddhism while running a small business.  

Etc is used in place of ‘et cetera’. In order to avoid long list of something we use it. 

•             There are cupcakes, muffins, chocolate cookies etc. in her bakery. 

RSVP is written at the end of invitations to mean ‘please respond’. When you receive invitation with RSVP written you must reply saying you accept or decline the invitation. You can also put name with the phone number and address. 

•             RSVP 2475947 (ph no.) by Dec 10 2013

ASAP stands for ‘as soon as possible’. 

•             Please come ASAP.

ETA stands for ‘estimated time arrival’. The time when someone is expected to arrive. 

•             What is your flight’s ETA? 

P.S. is used at the end of letters or mail to add extra information. It stands for ‘post script’.

•             With lots of love, Rajat. P.S. Pay my regards to your parents

DIY stands for ‘do it yourself’. The activity of doing things like repairing, decorating, making something all by yourself without the help of paid professionals. 

•             It’s a DIY game. 

PhD stands for ‘doctor of philosophy’. It is the highest university degree.

•             She has a PhD in Semiotics.

•             He is a PhD in English Language. 

A.D. (or AD) stands for ‘anno domini’. It is used in Christian calendar to refer to a year after Jesus Christ was born.

•             In 1400 AD or in AD 1400

•             In tenth century AD. 

B.C. (or BC) stands for ‘before Christ’. . It is used in Christian calendar to refer to a year before Jesus Christ was born. 

•             The war took place in 98 BC.

A.M. is used to refer to a time between twelve at night and twelve at noon. 

•             The baby was born at two a.m.

P.M. is used to refer to a time between twelve at noon and twelve at night. 

•             The movie is at seven p.m.