An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or expression. Abbreviation is a word created from the Latin word brevis for "short". Usually an abbreviation consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase.
As an example, the word "abbreviation" can itself be represented by the abbreviation "abbr"
For the sake of convenience, many British publications have completely done away with the use of periods in all abbreviations.
Publications based in the U.S. tend to follow three different style guides. Some two-word abbreviations, like "United Nations" U.N., are abbreviated with uppercase letters and periods, and others, like "personal computer" PC, and "compact disc" CD, are not.
In general if the original word was capitalized, then the first letter of its abbreviation should retain the capital, for example Ont. for Ontario. When abbreviating words spelled with lower case letters usually there is no need for capitalization.
Example abbreviations of grammatical terms:
a. = adjective;
adv. = adverb;
imp. = imperfect;
n. = noun;
pass. = passive;
p.p. = past participle;
p.pr. = present participle;
pref. = prefix;
prep. = preposition;
pres. = present;
subj. = subjunctive;
v.i. = intransitive verb;
v.t. = transitive verb.
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ESL in Canada English Grammar Glossary
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