Search results for 'tag:Abbreviations tag:British English' matching tags 'Abbreviations' and 'British English'

Re: pages/amount

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:21:15 GMT

In British English p. stands for 'page' and pp. 'for pages', so Ant is correct when he says that the plural of p. is pp. Here is an example from a book, and below the definition from a dictionary.

p (PAGE) noun [ C ] plural pp
WRITTEN ABBREVIATION FOR page (PAPER)
See p. 27.
The references are on pp. 256-264.

Re: Comma after i.e. and/or eg.?

milky — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:15:39 GMT

JaCKo__007 wrote:

A coma question!

I've found that American based writers use commas after 'i.e.', but what of it in British English and does it then apply to eg. as well?

Does a comma go after i.e. or e.g.?

Both abbreviations i.e. and e.g. are preceded by a mark of punctuation, usually a comma. In American English, both are generally followed by a comma, though not in British English, and are not italicized. E.g. may also be followed by a colon, depending on the construction. In British English, the term is often written as eg with the periods omitted.

Re: Mr. or Mr?

Cool Breeze — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 09:11:35 GMT

Goodman wrote:

Fleder,

"Mr Tom" in British English- Are you sure of that? Or you just think you are correct? "Mr." is the abbrivation of "mister" and all abbrivations by rule should have a "period" or "stop" at the end, no matter it's BrE or AmE. It's like "F.B.I" and "The U.N.". Don't be confused with other acromyms....

Hi Goodman

It was customary in BrE to put a period at the end of abbreviations when I was young. That has changed to a large extent and perids and commas are used much less in BrE than AmE. Here are some examples that are very common in BrE:

Mr Bell
Mrs Bell
the UN
the USA
the FBI

Some quality newspapers like the Guardian write dates in the following way: March 24 2007. Also, it is very common not to use a comma at the end of a letter:

Yours
Cool Breeze

Re: Mr. or Mr?

Fleder_m@u_S — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 03:57:19 GMT

Goodman wrote:

Fleder,

"Mr Tom" in British English- Are you sure of that? Or you just think you are correct? "Mr." is the abbrivation of "mister" and all abbrivations by rule should have a "period" or "stop" at the end, no matter it's BrE or AmE. It's like "F.B.I" and "The U.N.". Don't be confused with other acromyms....

Hi Goodman,
If I were not sure, I would say it before giving any information. ""Mr Tom" in British English", that's what I think since I was taught so. Far as I know, abbreviations are followed by a "period" like a standard in many countries, eg. America. But not all the countries.

Anyway, I'm not a British, so I maybe wrong about this. Please don't mind correct me if so.

Re: Need help of word have more than one forms

nona the brit — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:31:42 GMT

You need to be clear on the difference between advertising and advertisments/adverts.

Advertising is the process. An advertisement/advert is one part of their advertising campaign.

You cannot change advertising into advertisement in the 1st sentence.

It seems that advert is not acceptable in American English. In British English it is, but as an informal abbreviation. It would still be wise to use advertisement in any formal writing or document.

Abbreviation for "telephone number"

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:22:49 GMT

Is there any way of abbreviating the term "telephone number" which is recognised as more correct in British English than other ways?

I've seen "Phone 12345", "Phone: 12345", "Tel. 12345", Tel.: 12345" and others, and am wondering which one to choose for letterheads.

Also, are country code, area code and own number just separated by a space, or would it be more correct to put a hyphen or slash in between?

Thanks!

Re: Vocabulary

Englishuser — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 22:14:45 GMT

Hi Nef,

Once again, please forgive me for quoting you in a clumsy way.

This also makes learning English so exciting; you need to learn British English, Canadian English, Caribbean English, Nigerian English, Australian English...

You have a lot more energy than I do, but that's good.

I think you definitely need to know 'world English'. It's a must, really. I'm currently studying South African and Nigerian Englishes.

Not to speak of learning the vocabulary of Chaucer and Shakespeare, something that's paramount to all of us, I should think.

I have never thought it was paramount to anyone except the people who thought it was paramount to themselves. I'm not one of them. " src="/emoticons/emotion-1.gif">

Perhaps you're right. At least people will be impressed with your English if you manage to use seventeenth-century vocabulary (and grammar). Perhaps I should try to imitate Shakespeare in my posts.

Speaking of professors of English, do you think they have vaster vocabularies than other native speakers (including English teachers)?

I think there's a huge amount of individual variation.

Interesting. I somehow find it unlikely that a Professor of English at the University of Harward, for instance, would know fewer words than a native speaker who hasn't studied English. English majors are, after all, required to read quite a lot.

Where are you from, EU?

Your question is a bit cryptical: EU could be an abbreviation for the European Union (in which case you'd want me to confirm your assumption that I'm an EU national, and not an AU national, for instance). Yes, I'm from the EU. Of course EU could also be an abbreviation for EnglishUser (which is probably what you meant), but as you can see I decided to answer the question my own way.

As we've been discussing the importance of knowing various words, I think I should mention that people know words differently. For instance, it's very obvious to most native speakers that 'tonga' refers to a small, light two-wheeled horse- or pony-drawn carriage or cart originating in India, but very few people would know that the word entered the English language sometime between 1870 and 1899 and that the word came from the Hindi word taga (my apologies for not being able to use appropriate punctuation marks or Hindi characters here). I personally think it's important to know a word well, so to say, which basically means you know something about its origin, various acceptable pronunciations, etc. Also, one should never forget to learn every known meaning, past and present, for each word in the language, no matter how archaic and obsolete some of them might be. To give you an example, the word 'pudding' means at least 15 different things (2 of which are archaic). (Not everyone knows that 'pudding' was used for a 'pudding' roasted within the body of an animal, for instance. 'Pudding' was used in this sense c. 1570 - 1799, and, in my opinion, this is an important piece of information.)

Re: Written English and Spoken English

Nef — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 01:14:14 GMT

Patricklui wrote:

Hello I am new to here. My mother tongue is Cantonese and I like to polish my English.

It's known that English has two different versions : spoken and written. I have been learning English since I was a child and my written English is not too bad because this is what I have to master in order to pass most exams. However, when it comes to speaking in English I often don't know what to say and struggle for words. Though I am in a city where many Englishes live and work in, I hardly make any native friends, what means, I lack an language environment. My problem is:

How can I learn more about the spoken version of English - the way that natives speak? Can you suggest some free online material focusing on spoken English?

Looking forward to your reply.

Hello Patricklui,

I work in an ESL program, and I know that your situation is very common. Some students speak better than they write or read. Some read, and often write, better than they speak. Some are more or less at the same level in everything, but these seem to be rare.

I'd suggest listening to English on the radio and watching some English television, if possible. (Be careful which programs you choose. For one thing, given your location, it may make more sense for you to listen to British English than to listen to North American English. For another thing, some shows aren't much like real conversation.)

Also, when you can, listen to people speaking English around you (possibly on a bus or while you are having something to drink or reading a newspaper someplace.) Do you think these speakers sound like you sound? Do they abbreviate things you might not abbreviate? (example: Want to go? or even Wanta go? versus Do you want to go?) Do they use different inflection (raising and lowering the pitch of their voices) than you usually do? Would you understand a lot of what they said if they slowed down?

**My strongest suggestion is to take a class in conversational English, if you can. Look for a class that focuses on practical communication.** An intensive conversational class (one that meets frequently and for fairly long amounts of time) would be good, if you could manage it. Again, try to find a class that focuses on conversation (not on writing, not on reading, not on reciting long passages, not on learning about literature, not on a combination of these things). Talking, listening, understanding, using, asking questions, learning more.

Another possibility (perhaps hard to find and not cheap) would be a class that focuses on pronunciation. (This is more specific than a class that focuses on conversation.) Still more specific would be working with a speech coach or therapist who focuses on accent reduction. You might not need either of these two. Try other things first.

Spend some more time on this forum, particularly in the areas where you think you need help. I think Www.eslcafe.com is another good forum. See what other people are doing to improve their speech.

If possible, ask a few proficient English-speaking acquaintances for feedback and suggestions.

Practice saying common phrases the way you have heard proficient English speakers say those phrases.

Good luck!

Re: Inc. = Ltd.?

Clive — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 01:06:12 GMT

Hi,

I'd like to know whether the abbreviation "Inc." is the American equivalent for British "Ltd." 'Inc' means 'incorporated, as a corporation'. ' Ltd.' refers to a company, with limited liablility. I think what you are really asking is about the difference between a company and a corporation. Perhaps you should post this on the legal forum to get a proper legal definition.

If we should translate a legal document containing this word, from British English to American English (or viceversa), should we keep the term as part of the company name or should we still translate it? I'm asking this because legal systems differ in both countries. Again, I can't give a legal opinion, but I feel that you shouldn't start changing names - a name is a name, regardless of the local legal system.

Best wishes, Clive

Inc. = Ltd.?

Riglos — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 23:55:56 GMT

Hi people!

I'd like to know whether the abbreviation "Inc." is the American equivalent for British "Ltd."

And here's another question:

Thanks a lot!

Mara.