The Letters in Acronymic Abbreviations Must Be

Popular Acronym Examples

Permit’s start off past examining some popular acronyms and their meanings, including how they are used in sentences. We’re probable to see them in the news and even use them in our everyday language. Some acronyms take become regular words like radar, scuba, and taser.

• AIDS –
  Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
  He tested positive for AIDS.

• ASAP –
  As Soon As Possible
  We have to get to the hospital ASAP!

• AWOL
  – Absent Without Official Get out (or Absent-minded Without Leave)
  I don’t know where he went. He’s totally AWOL.

• IMAX
  – Image Maximum
  We saw
  MI:half-dozen
  in the local IMAX theatre.

• LASER
  – Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiations
  Our cat loves to chase a lilliputian red LASER beam.

• Pin –
  Personal Identification Number
  You’ll demand your PIN to use your banking company carte at the ATM.

• RADAR
  – Radio Detection and Ranging
  The police officeholder used RADAR to grab them speeding.

• SCUBA
  – Self-Contained Underwater Animate Appliance
  We gathered our SCUBA gear and dove into the Atlantic.

• SMART –
  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely
  Create SMART goals for the quarter so you’ll be successful.

• TASER
  – Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle
  She hit the assailant with her TASER.

• WASP
  – White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
  Many citizens in the Colonial Era were WASPs.

Professional Acronym Examples

Groups, organizations, and even specific occupational positions are ofttimes known more by their acronym than their real name. Some professional person acronyms that used to be pronounced letter by letter are now pronounced as words.

• AARP –
  American Association of Retired Persons
  I forgot my AARP card.

• DARE –
  Drug Abuse Resistance Education
  The whole school is doing the Dare program.

• FEMA –
  Federal Emergency Management Agency
  After the hurricane, FEMA helped the survivors rebuild.

• HIPAA:
  Wellness Insurance Portability Accountability Deed
  I tin’t requite you lot that information because of HIPAA.

• HUD –
  Department of Housing and Urban Development
  You’ll have to become to the HUD part to become help finding affordable housing.

• NAFTA
  – North American Free Trade Agreement
  NAFTA requires the U.S. to follow this rule.

• NASA
  – National Aeronautics and Space Assistants
  Nosotros watched the NASA engineer explain how a launch works.

• NATO
  – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  Let’s hope NATO always remains intact.

• OSHA
  – Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  Everyone brand sure you vesture your helmets today, nosotros’ve got an OSHA inspection.

• POTUS –
  President Of The Usa
  The POTUS will be taking Air Force 1 to the meeting.

• SEAL
  – Body of water Air Land (U.S. Navy)
  The SEAL team is taking this mission.

• SNAP –
  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
  Anyone who qualifies for SNAP benefits qualifies for this program.

• SWAT
  – Special Weapons and Tactics
  The Los Angeles Law Department dispatched their SWAT team.

• UNICEF
  – The United nations International Children’due south Emergency Fund
  UNICEF appointed a new chairman of the board.

Internet Acronym Examples

With interactions happening on email, text, Facebook, Instagram, and more, internet acronyms are a part of everyday language. Given our propensity to send quick, off-the-cuff text messages or mail brusk, fun tweets, the grammar rules pertaining to acronyms and capitalization more often than not fly out the window.

• BAE
  – Before Anyone Else
  He’s my new BAE.

• FOMO
  – Fearfulness Of Missing Out
  I’m but going with you because I have a major case of FOMO.

• GIF –
  Graphics Interchange Format
  She sent me a GIF of a dancing cat.

• JPEG – Joint Photographic Experts Group
  Yous have to attach that photograph as a JPEG.

• RAM –
  Random Access Memory
  How much RAM does your computer have?

• YOLO
  – You Only Live Once
  You improve become on that trip. YOLO!

Funny Acronym Examples

Sometimes the new words acronyms create are as funny as their meetings.

• Buss
  – Continue It Simple Stupid
  You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, Kiss.

• LOL
  – Laugh Out Loud
  You’re and so funny, LOL!

• MACUSA
  – Magical Congress of the Usa of America
  In the
  Fantastic Beasts
  movie, she was a member of MACUSA.

• PHAT
  – Pretty hot and tempting
  That girl was PHAT!

How to Use Acronyms

Technically speaking, y’all should capitalize all the letters in acronyms, but there are exceptions.

Informal Acronyms

Most informal acronyms don’t use all capital letters. When people are texting friends or using social media, they often write acronyms in lowercase letters considering it’s quicker. Some acronyms, similar “taser,” have become so common, they are now considered real words, so they won’t be capitalized either.

Formal Acronyms

When writing in a professional chapters, such as for a school essay or a press release, you always want to write out the full version of the term when you first mention it. And so you should indicate the acronym in parentheses immediately later. After the first mention, you can employ the acronym throughout the rest of the piece.

For example:

“The Girls Scout troop visited the National Helmsmanship and Space Administration (NASA) headquarters on Tuesday. While at NASA, they learned how to be astronauts.”

Don’t Get FOMA

The fear of misusing acronyms (FOMA) is existent for grammar geeks. In a digital age where everyone multitasks through their screens, information technology’s squeamish to have an adopted set of acronyms that most people know. If not, a quick Google search will tell you lot what your friend meant when she said she has “FOMO.” Now that you understand what acronyms wait similar, encounter if you can tell the deviation between acronyms and abbreviations and how they chronicle to initialisms.