How to Punctuate Abbreviations

How to punctuate abbreviations is a skill that all writers need to know and master to avoid embarrassing writing errors.

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How to Punctuate Abbreviations

Abbreviations are shortened forms of words or phrases. They are typically used in writing to save space and time.

An Acronym, on the other hand, consists of the first letters of a group of individual words.

“Dr.” (Doctor) is an abbreviation.

“NASA,” on the other hand, is an acronym.

Initialisms

Acronyms are sometimes also called an “initialism” since they consist of the initial letters of a group of words.

“LOL” (Laughing Out Loud” is an initialism, or, an acronym.

Abbreviations can be written with or without periods, but when used with periods, they are typically followed by a space. In most cases, the last letter of the abbreviation is capitalized. There are some rare cases where capitalizing is not necessary, but this is usually dictated by the abbreviation’s creator.

Such words are a common part of medical and legal writing, but can also be found in other areas such as social media, marketing, advertising, and government documents. To create a satisfying user experience, a writer needs to study how to punctuate abbreviations.

Write the Open Form of an Acronym the First Time You Use It

You do not have to write the open form of an acronym every time you use it. Writing it for the first instance of the acronym is enough. Otherwise, it may become too cumbersome to read the text.

INCORRECT:

“The CCO (Chief Communications Officer) of the company worked as a CCO (Chief Communications Officer) in many Fortune 500 corporations before becoming the CCO (Chief Communications Officer) of a Fortune 100 company.”

CORRECT:

“The CCO (Chief Communications Officer) of the company worked as a CCO in many Fortune 500 corporations before becoming the CCO of a Fortune 100 company.”

Familiar and Unfamiliar Acronyms

For well-known acronyms, you do not need to write the open form of the acronyms. But for those little-known acronyms, you need to write their open form at least the first time you use them. If you use an unknown acronym and do not explain it, that would create a frustrating user experience. Do the same for those unfamiliar acronyms that are identical to some other well-known ones in order not to confuse your reader.

Examples

CORRECT: “The UN General Assembly voted a statement to decrease the Environmental Impact Study Group’s Major Preliminary Findings.”

INCORRECT: “The UN GA voted a statement to decrease the environmental EISG’s MPF.”

CORRECT: “CEO salaries went up in Q1.”

REDUNDANT: “Chief Executive Officer salaries went up in the first quarter of the year.”

Punctuation with a Period for Title Abbreviations Before Names

Mr. John Smith

Prof. Jane Gupta

Punctuation with a Period for Title Abbreviations After Names

Bill Holiday, Sr.

Ayla Williams, Jr.

Punctuation without a Period for Title Abbreviations After Names

Brad Swift, CPA, PMM, COO

Gupta Sharma, CEO

How to Read Acronyms

Some abbreviations are actually acronyms, that is, they are the first letters of a group of words or phrases. That’s why how to punctuate abbreviations and how to punctuate acronyms are closely related topics.

Read as Individual Letters

Reading abbreviations and acronyms can at times be confusing, especially for ESL students. They are sometimes read as individual letters but not as whole words.

EU — read as “E-U” even though it can be read as “European Union” as well, depending on the context. Both are correct readings.

CNN — read as “C-N-N” and rarely as “Cable News Network.”

HTML — read as “H-T-M-L”.

URL — read as “U-R-L”.

IRS — read as “I-R-S” not as “Internal Revenue Service”.

RSS — read as “R-S-S” and not as “Really Simple Syndication.”

Read as a Multiple Word Phrase

HP — read as “Horse Power”.

ATM — can be read as “Automated Teller Machine” but usually as “A-T-M”.

Read as a Single Word

AIDS — read as “Aids” and rarely as “Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome.”

PTSD — read as “Ptsd” and rarely as “Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.”

KB — read as “Kilobyte”.

Read as a Single Word, as the Shortened Form of a Longer Word

Perp — read as “Perp” as the shortened form of “Perpetrator”.

Lab — read as “Lab” as the shortened form of “Laboratory”.

Read as a Word or Phrase

AKA — read as “Also Known As”.

RE — read as “Reference”

P.S. — read as “Post Script”.

CV — read as “Curriculum Vita” but also as “C-V”.

FL — read as “Florida”.

Esp. — read as “Especially”.

Esq. — read as “Esquire”.

I.e. — read as “That Is”.

E.g. — read as “For Example”.

Always Read as Full Word

Mr. — read as “Mister”.

Prof. — read as “Professor”.

Dr. — read as “Doctor”.

How to Punctuate Abbreviations: When to Use a Period for an Abbreviation

Abbreviations of single words usually end with a period.

“hr.” for “hour”.

“ft.” for “feet”.

“Sept.” for “September”.

“Pres.” for “President”.

Abbreviations of multiple words (phrases) usually do not end in a period.

“NYC” for “New York City”.

“MB” for “Megabyte”.

“dpi” for “dots per inch”.

Spelling Out Abbreviations in Writing

The following abbreviations should be written out as words within the body of a text:

Geographic places
Days of the week
Months of the year
Proper names of individuals
Measurement units

EXCEPTION: If an abbreviation is a part of the name of a company (e.g. LLC), it should be written in its abbreviated form.

Example

WRONG: “Voters in Calif. decided in a referendum held on Feb. 4 Tue. to increase the salary of government employee engs. by an average of $400 a mo.”

CORRECT: “Voters in California decided in a referendum held on February 4, Tuesday to increase the salary of government employee engineers by an average of $400 a month.”

How to Punctuate Plural Abbreviations and Acronyms

GENERAL RULE: Use an “s” to make an abbreviation plural.

URLs, MBAs, MP4s, Drs, Profs, lbs., kgs., MPMs, etc.

Exceptions

But there are exceptions.

Exception 1

For example, when there is a lower-case letter in the abbreviation (PhD), use an apostrophe (PhD’s).

Exception 2

When the measuring unit is “per” for another unit, as in “miles per hour,” then do not use an “s” to make it plural.

For example, to write “60 miles per hour” write “60 mph” and not “60 mil./hrs.” For “100 square miles” write “100 sq. mi.” and not “100 sq/mils.”

Exception 3

Sometimes a sports team’s name is abbreviated as a single letter, as in “Oakland A” for “Oakland Athletics.” In such unusual cases use an apostrophe as well: “Oakland A’s.”

Computer Abbreviations and Acronyms

How to punctuate abbreviations is an issue when creating computer documentation as well. Here are some abbreviation rules when writing computer storage/memory and network speed.

Storage/Memory Abbreviations and Acronyms

Acronym	Meaning
KB	Kilobyte
MB	Megabyte
GB	Gigabyte
TB	Terabyte
kHz	Kilohertz
MHz	Megahertz
GHz	Gigahertz
THz	Terahertz

IMPORTANT: Do not use “s” for plurals of storage/memory units.

INCORRECT: I need another 4GBs of memory.

CORRECT: I need another 4GB of memory.

Network Speed Abbreviations and Acronyms

Acronym	Meaning
Kbps	Kilobits per second
KBps	Kilobytes per second
Mbps	Megabits per second
MBps	Megabytes per second
Gbps	Gigabits per second
GBps	Gigabytes per second
Tbps	Terabits per second
TBps	Terabytes per second