Pennington Publishing Blog

Abbreviations and Acronyms

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Common Core Language Standard: L.5.2*

Pre-teaching: Abbreviations are shortened words or groups of words. Acronyms are groups of words that are abbreviated to form a word.

Definitions and Examples: Use periods following the first letter of each key word in an abbreviated title or expression, and pronounce each of these letters when saying the abbreviation. For example, U.S.A. for the United States of America.

But, don’t use periods or pronounce the letters in an acronym. Acronyms are special abbreviated titles or expressions that are pronounced as words. Most all acronyms are capitalized. For example, NASA for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Writing Style Hints: Avoid using abbreviations and acronyms in formal essays. Instead, write out each of the words.

Practice: Mr. James Kopp Jr. has worked outside of the U.S. for many businesses, but he now works in his home state for MADD. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)

Formative Assessment Dictation: Mrs. Johnson and her husband, Jim Johnson Sr., wrote a letter to all members of the NAACP who live in their ZIP Code.

Writing Application: Compose a short business letter, using one abbreviation and one acronym.

Related Language Standards: Common Latin Abbreviations

*Suggested Grade Level

The author of the Pennington Publishing Blog, Mark Pennington, has written a comprehensive Grades 4-12 language series to teach each of the grade-level Common Core Language Standards in 60—90 instructional minutes per week. Teaching the Language Strand (of the Common Core State Standards) provides interactive grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling lessons, a complete spelling patterns program, language application openers, and vocabulary instruction. Simple sentence diagrams, error analysis, mentor texts, writing applications with sentence combining and sentence manipulation, and formative assessments are woven into each lesson. Students learn to apply these language standards in both the writing and reading contexts. Each instructional component includes diagnostic assessments and remedial worksheets to help the teacher easily differentiate instruction. Previews of the grade-level teacher guides and student workbooks are available on the author’s website.

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Grammar/Mechanics, Writing abbreviations, acronyms, Common Core, conventions, ELA, English, grammar, Language Arts, Language Standard, Language Strand, mechanics