Abbreviation

Abbreviation is taken from Latin brevis, meaning "short". It is a shortened form of a word or phrase.

• Mr. for Mister
• BBC for British Broadcasting Corporation
• NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Pronunciation

Mr. is not usually written in full, and is pronounced like the full one.

• BBC is pronounced letter by letter

• and NATO like a word

the latter is called acronym. See also Acronym

Article

The article depends on the pronunciation of the first letter of the abbreviation

• An IRA attack
• A US diplomat

• A BA degree
• An MP

• The USA

• The RSPCA

Apostrophe in plural form

An apostrophe (’) may be used in the plural form

• CD’s or CDs
  When an abbreviation contains more than one full point, put the s after the final one.
• Ph.D.s
• M.Phil.s
• the d.t.s