ESL Blogs

Writing Prompt ~ Abbreviations

Student: I'm not sure when to use "the" in front of an initialism.  Are there any rules?

Teacher: Good question. You can use "the" in front of an initialism that is the name of a famous organization, e.g. the BBC, the UN, the WTO. But you don't use "the" in front of CNN, ABC, GE - name of company. I'm afraid there may not be any strict rules.

Student: It'd seem to be so informal to use abbr. in written English, right?

Teacher: It's true if you use abbr. in formal or business letters, in which you use such words or expressions as "congratulations", "thank you", "what is" or "it will" instead of "congrats", "thx", "what's" or "it'll". Some abbreviations, however, are quite acceptable - you can use "phone", "plane", "photo", "exam", "math(s)", "fridge", "flu", "lab", etc. 

Student: Any more tips on abbr.?

Teacher: Don't use too many abbreviations in a short paragraph unless you're trying to practice using abbr. You can use "full stop", e.g. "the U.S." - this use is more popular in American English. In British English, you usually omit the periods, e.g. "the US". You can even add an "s" to make an abbreviation plural, e.g. hrs (hours).