ABBREVIATIONS: INITIALISMS AND ACRONYMS

An initialism is an abbreviation composed of the initial letters of a series of words and pronounced letter by letter.

Examples:

• RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)
• EEC (European Economic Community)

An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters or syllables of a series of words and pronounced as a word.

Examples:

• NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)
• NATO (North American Treaty Organization)
• FORTRAN (formula translation)

Guidelines for using abbreviations

In regulations, abbreviations should be avoided and the term written out in full. However, if the term is to appear frequently, an abbreviation may be used, if it is defined in the regulation.

Example:

• "ICAO" means the International Civil Aviation Organization. (OACI)

Furthermore, certain abbreviations may be used without being defined if the English and French versions of the abbreviation appear in standard dictionaries in each language.

Examples:

• UN (O.N.U.)
• GNP (P.N.B.)
• SOS (S.O.S.)
• FM (F.M.)
• FOB (F.A.B.)

Formation

In English, use capital letters only, without periods or spacing. Initialisms representing the names of organizations generally take the definite article, while those representing a substance, method or condition do not.

Examples:

• The fugitive was apprehended by the RCMP.
• We have become too reliant on EDP.

Acronyms are usually not preceded by the definite article.

Examples:

• The members of NATO rejected the idea.
• CIDA provides grants, loans and lines of credit.

Part 4 – Table of contents