Abbreviations

People are often unsure about how to write abbreviations. The main areas of uncertainty are:

• whether to write abbreviations with capital letters
• whether to use full stops
• when to use apostrophes.

Here’s a quick-reference guide to help you get it right.

There are several kinds of abbreviation: the way an abbreviation is written usually depends on the category to which it belongs. The categories are listed below – click on the links to find out more: