Acronym vs. Abbreviation

ACRONYM:

A word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term which can be pronounced as a word, as inNATO, radar, or laser. Acronym is a part of abbreviation.

ABBREVIATION:

A shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole. For example, abbr (abbreviation), adj (adjective), tech (technical).

In English, Medicinae Doctorabbreviated as M.D. is the title for doctors. There are many English abbreviations rooted from Latin, for examples etc., eg., ie. Just so you know etc. is the short for et cetera, meaning ‘and other things’or ‘and so on’. People often write this abbreviation the wrong way. They write etc. as ect. For God’s sake! Get it right, people! :D

eg. stands for exempli gratia, meaning ‘for example’ and ie.stands for id est, meaning ‘in other words’ or ‘that is’. These two abbreviations are often confused because they are both used to introduce some clarifications of something previously mentioned.

Compare these sentences:

• The buffet provided excellent variety, eg., (for example) vegetarian, non-vegetarian soups, Italian, French breads, and numerous deserts.

• Service charge is included in all prices, ie., (in other words) you don’t have to leave a tip.

There’s one acronym that I found annoying; YOLO. It’s the short for You Live Only Once. I don’t know why; I just hate it! :D


UP and DOWN

⇑ UP

The particle UP means:

– towards a higher place

– make bigger

– to a centre

– increase

– improve

– complete

– establish

⇓ DOWN

The particle DOWN means:

– towards a lower place

– make smaller

– reduce

– decrease

– destroy

– analyze

So when I say “I picked up the book from the floor”, it means I moved the book to a “higher place”. However, when I say “I live in Bristol but I go up to London regularly”, it doesn’t mean that London is in a higher place, but rather to describe London as the political and economic center of England is “higher in importance” than other towns.

More examples:

They decided to pull down the ruined building.

We use the particle down with the verb pull, NOT up (pull up) because buildings normally stand up in the air. So when the ruined buliding was pulled down, it means it was brought to the grown; it was destroyed.

She cut up the carrots and put them in the pan.

We use the particle up in cut up to mean that the carrots were cut completely to small pieces.