Search results for 'tag:Pronunciation tag:Abbreviations' matching tags 'Pronunciation' and 'Abbreviations'

Re: Plural of s = s'es?

Pter — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:43:31 GMT

Yoong Liat
2a. There are two s's in the sentence. (The modern tendency is to add -s to pluralise a word. However, the -'s is still common. I would write s's because ss looks odd.)
2b. There are two PSs in the meeting. (I think either PSs or PS's is fine although I prefer the latter. )

Thanks again, Yoong Liat. I think this is not a matter of right or wrong, but just a matter of style. Many people still use the apostrophe. In fact, if the abbreviation has to be in lower case (I can't think of such a situation yet), I would also use the apostrophe. Therefore, I would write MPs, but mp's. I won't write mps because the s could be confused as part of the abbreviation.

Yoong Liat
In addition, how should they be pronounced? (Pronounce as in 1a and 1b)

Thanks. That's where I am confused. I thought the pronunciation need to match the spelling and therefore "es". Now I know that this is not necessary. I just checked my pronouncing dictionary and surprised to find that it lists all the pronunciations of the plurals of all the 26 alphabets. The plural of s is s's, and the pronunciation is /esiz/. I should have checked that dictionary earlier.

Yoong Liat
PS I have never seen P.SS. or p.ss. My copy of Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary does not have such an entry nor does any other dictionary I checked. (Maybe yours is not the latest edition.)

Seems that we are talking about different dictionaries instead of different versions. The name on the page you quoted does not have "Webster's". Anyway, why we need a plural for PS? A postscript is a short remark. Although it is possible that the "short" remark is not that short and may have more than one paragraph, it is still one short remark. Two paragraphs don't make it two postscripts. I was told that an additional PS added after the original PS is PPS - Post-Postscript.

Re: Formal Letter - author codes, and the use of "Con't"...

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:03:53 GMT

There are nearly 3 million google hits and 2 million yahoo hits for CON'T as the abbreviation for continue/continued.
It's not a form listed in popular dictionaries.

cont.
contd
cont'd
cnt

Why do you suppose it has become so common?
Perhaps:
- It's an abbreviation of an existing abbreviation: cont'd / con't
- The apostrophe is a stress mark for the pronunciation of the word instead of replacing letters
- Abbreviations can have slang forms too

Re: abreviation

Mister Micawber — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 11:04:09 GMT

Such contractions (not 'abbreviations') are used only to represent spoken pronunciation. Any but the most casual writing should employ the fully written-out forms: this is, these are, etc.

Re: Pronunciation of acronyms

The17pointscale — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:12:54 GMT

Yeah, but I'd say that U-Dub is an abbreviated form of the abbreviation UW (you double-you). I don't really think that it's an acronymn....

(crazy! my girlfriend works at spew)

-Andrew

Re: Pronunciation of acronyms

Philip — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:05:33 GMT

The17pointscale wrote:
As I was looking at these abbreviations, I wondered how someone might know that UCLA isn't pronounced uck lah (I suppose that it would be an unfortunate moniker). Are there any universities that are abbreviated as acronymns? I can't think of any. Maybe the University of Pennsylvania is UPENN? I graduated from SPU and an occasional visitor mockingly referred to it as spew, but it was officially known as ess pea you.

-Andrew

Living in Seattle, you most likely know that the University of Washington (UW) is known as U-Dub.

(I live just 5 minutes away from "spew".)

Re: Pronunciation of acronyms

Magda — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 15:27:37 GMT

Clive wrote:
Hi,

Your examples are not acronyms. They are abbreviations.

An acronym is when the capital letters are pronounced as a word.

eg FBI is an abbreviation. We say each letter separately. eff bee eye

eg NATO is an acronym. We say naytow, not enn eh tee owe

Best wishes, Clive

Hi Clive,
I've been taught that there are two kinds of acronyms: pronuncable as one word, e.g. NATO, OPEC, and these ones which have each letter pronounced separetely: the EU, the UN, etc.
So, according to what I've been taught, they are all acronyms.

Best regadrs,
Magda

Re: Pronunciation of acronyms

The17pointscale — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:32:28 GMT

As I was looking at these abbreviations, I wondered how someone might know that UCLA isn't pronounced uck lah (I suppose that it would be an unfortunate moniker). Are there any universities that are abbreviated as acronymns? I can't think of any. Maybe the University of Pennsylvania is UPENN? I graduated from SPU and an occasional visitor mockingly referred to it as spew, but it was officially known as ess pea you.

-Andrew

Re: Pronunciation of acronyms

Clive — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:01:06 GMT

Hi,

Your examples are not acronyms. They are abbreviations.

An acronym is when the capital letters are pronounced as a word.

eg FBI is an abbreviation. We say each letter separately. eff bee eye

eg NATO is an acronym. We say naytow, not enn eh tee owe

Best wishes, Clive

Re: How to get rid of accent?

Marvin A. — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:19:01 GMT

Anonymous wrote:
yo guys!

i've read all your comments...and i gotta say i've lost any hope to learn english...reading or hearing how others talk kinda depresses me cos i realize that i'm very bad at it, that i can't speak at all. nobody can understand me, some people make fun of me when i speak- my pronunciation is ridiculous, my grammar sucks. i had english classes in high school for 4 years but that was long ago....i've forgotten everything.

now i need to start from the beginning well...maybe not from the beginning-beginning but i'm there.

i'm a self-study so it's much more difficult...because lots of times i have no clue whether i pronounce a word correctly or not.

anyways...i am not going to give up cos i really want to learn plus i love english! especially amercian english which sounds the best in my opinion. i watch movies, talk with a friend from the states on yahoo every now and then...but i'm always scared to talk on the mic...so we type. some kind of psychological barrier doesn't allow me to talk on the mic ;/ i'm too ashamed even though i know he would not laugh cos foreign accents ain't anything new to him.

i know complaining won't help so i'm sorry to bother u all...wish me luck in my self-studying! i'll keep my fingers crossed for u guys too.

take care

kam

.P.S i forgot to say that i'm from europe (poland).

@Kam:

Your written English is quite good! You certainly sound very fluent and competent. But, inexplicably, you, like many other foreigners, wrote your message in AOLspeak. I've noticed that many beginning English speakers that post messages on forums use the same style of writing on forums that they would use to chat with their buddies on Instant Messenger. That style instantly labels you as either a beginner at English or a 12-year old. It's funny because 90% of beginners make this same mistake on forums, no matter what country they're from. It's as if their own language doesn't have capitalization, or something. So, here are my criticisms. If you follow them, you're written English, will improve dramatically. Remember, practice other forms of written English, not just Instant Messenger.

"yo guys"
This is a very non-standard stigmatized greeting, that used to be used by teenagers when they wanted to sound "cool". Now it's rather obsolete, and sounds rather comical. I would change it to "Hey guys", if you want a better sounding informal greeting.

"i've"
In English, "I" is *always* capitalized. The only place it isn't capitalized is on Instant Messenger. On forums, it's always capitalized.

"gotta"
Not a real word. It's from "got to". Replace it with "have to" or "must" when writing.

"sucks"
Mostly used by 12-year olds.

"cos"
I don't think this is ever used by native speakers. Most native speakers if trying to express [ kVz ] (from "because") would tend to write "cuz" because it's spelled like it sounds. "Cos" is an abbreviation for "cosine", and when you're using it for "because" implies it should be pronounce [ kOs ] , which to a native English speaker sounds absolutely nothing like [ kVz ] . Remember "s" and "z" are separate sounds in English at the end of words. But remember this is only appropriate on AIM. On a forum, just use "because"--it's not that much harer to type.

"ain't"
Hmm. Whom are you learning your English from anyway? Southerners? People from the African-American cultural group? This is a highly stigmatized word in English.

"u"
Spell it out! "u" is only used on Instant Messenger...really...

"u all"
There is no second person singular/plural distinction in English. Use "you". If you absolutely must make a distinction, don't pick the Southern/Texas version. Use "you guys", which is used in the North and the West.

".P.S."
Should be P.S.

Re: Jim, Calijim

CalifJim — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 04:06:42 GMT

The Jim in CalifJim is pronounced the same as Jim is pronounced separately: /dZIm/ to rhyme with him or dim or Kim or slim. The normal pronunciation of "j" is /dZ/ in English. The "j" in "Jim" is the same sound - nothing irregular about it.

The full name is simply an abbreviation for California Jim, so I never actually say CalifJim - I say California Jim.

CJ