Contractions and abbreviations in academic writing.

Many test takers use contractions and abbreviations in academic writing however, though some raters will let them pass, it is important to note that using them in an academic writing can cause issues and thus may not be suitable.

One of the main reasons why contractions are not acceptable is that they make the writing less formal. Contractions are an informal way of writing, an academic writeup is a formal writing.

As for abbreviations, apart from being informal, they make the reading pretty hard most times and boring, especially when sundry are used. Look at the following sentences:

1-   The CEO said the Ad on the TV is to cause a BSS within the company so as to a way of the HRD to make better decisions for the company.

First off, though some abbreviations are known, they can still be confusing depending on the sentence and intended meaning. For example, the abbreviation BSS basically means ‘Bachelor of Social Science’, but the writer used it to mean ‘Business Support System.’.  This means it is probable the reader will not understand not only the abbreviation, but the whole sentence.

It is important to note that abbreviations, contractions and acronyms can have more than one meaning and thus can be confusing to the reader. This means:

1-   The reader has to often refer back to the whole sentence or everything written before the abbreviation or contractions or;

2-   Just move on with the reading hoping the meaning will be understandable within the next context.

Sundry abbreviations and contractions have more than one meaning and this can be confusing to the reader. Look at the list of contractions below and see their different meanings.

1-   she’s      she is, she has

2-   he’s       he is, he has

3-   it’s         it is, it has

4-   I’d         I had, I would

5-   you’d    you had, you would

6-   she’d     she had, she would

7-   he’d       he had, he would

8-   it’d        it had, it would

9-   we’d      we had, we would

10-          they’d  they had, they would

11-          that’s    that is, that has

12-          who’s  who is, who has

13-          who’d  who had, who would

14-          what’s  what is, what has, what does

15-          where’s      where is, where has

16-          when’s       when is, when has

17-          why’s         why is, why has

18-          how’s         how is, how has

19-          there’s        there is, there has

20-          there’d       there had, there would

21-          someone’s someone is, someone has

22-          somebody’s        somebody is, somebody has

23-          no one’s     no one is, no one has

24-          nobody’s   nobody is, nobody has

25-          something’s        something is, something has

26-          nothing’s   nothing is, nothing has

Below are abbreviations with more than one meaning.

    A – answer/ absent/ Ampere/ Argon

    AA – Alcoholics Anonymous/ Automobile Association

    ABC – Australian Broadcasting Corporation/ American Broadcasting Company/ airway breathing circulation

    AC/ A/C – alternating current/ air conditioning

    adv/ Adv – adverb/ advanced

    Al/ AL – aluminium/ Alabama

    AM/ AM (radio) – antemeridian (= in the morning)/ amplitude modulation (radio frequency)

    Amp/ amp – Ampere/ amplifier

    AR – augmented reality/ Arkansas

    ASL – American Sign Language/ age sex location

    ATB – all terrain bike (= mountain bike)/ All the best (email sign off)

    auto/ auto (parts)– automatic/ automobile

    AV – audio-visual/ adult video/ autonomous vehicle

    BC – before Christ/ British Columbia

    bike – bicycle/ motorbike

    bio – biography/ biological

    bull – bull's-eye/ bulls**t

    c/ C – cent/ century

    Ca/ CA/ ca – calcium/ California/ circa (meaning “about”)

    (dash)cam/ CAM – (video) camera/ computer-aided manufacturing/ complementary and alternative medicine

    cat/ Cat – catalytic convertor/ Catherine

    cc/ CC – cubic centimetres/ carbon copy (email)

    cert/ (dead) cert – certificate/ certainty

    CIO – chief information officer/ chief investment officer

    CO – carbon monoxide/ commissioning officer

    co/ CO – company/ Colorado

    coke – Coca Cola/ cocaine

    comp – compilation/ comprehensive (school)

    con/ Con. – convict/ confidence trick/ Conservative (Party)

    cos – because/ cosine

    CRT – cathode ray tube/ critical race theory/ cardiac resynchronisation therapy

    CT (scan)/ CT – computed tomography/ Connecticut

    d/ D – deci-/ diameter/ Democrat

    DC – direct current/ (Washington) District of Columbia

    deb – debutante/ Deborah

    (high) def/ def./ def(o) – definition/ defender/ definitely

    DJ – disc jockey/ disk jockey

    DMs – direct messages/ Doctor Martens

    doc/ doc(s) – document/ documentary/ doctor/ Dr Martens

    DVD – digital video disc/ digital versatile disc

    E/ e- – East/ ecstasy/ energy/ electronic-

    Ed./ (adult/ special/ co-)ed/ Ed – edition/ education/ Edward

    EFL – English Football League/ English as a foreign language

    esp./ ESP – especially/ extra-sensory perception/ English for Specific Purposes/ English for Special Purposes

    est./ EST – estimated/ established/ Eastern Standard Time

    estate – council estate/ estate car

    ET – extra terrestrial/ Eastern Time

    ex/ Ex.(1) – ex-wife/ ex-husband/ ex-boyfriend/ ex-girlfriend/ example (one)/ exercise (one)

    ext. – extension/ exterior/ external/ extract

    F/ (3)F – (degrees) Fahrenheit/ false/ female/ Fluorine/ (third) floor

    FA/ (sweet) FA – Football Association/ f*** all

    FE (college)/ Fe – further education (college)/ iron

    FT/ ft – full time/ Financial Times/ foot/ feet

    FX/ (S)FX – foreign exchange/ (special) effects

    FY – financial year/ fiscal year

    g/ G – gram/ ground floor/ grand (= thousand)

    GA – general average/ Georgia

    GM – general manager/ General Motors

    GP – general practitioner (= family doctor)/ (Formula 1) grand prix

    H – heroin/ hydrogen

    HMP – Her Majesty’s Prison/ His Majesty’s Prison (used in prison names)

    HMS – Her Majesty’s Ship/ His Majesty’s Ship (used in ship names)

    hockey – field hockey/ ice hockey

    hon/ hon./ Hon. – honey/ honorary/ honourable

    hood – hoodlum/ neighbourhood

    HRH – Her Royal Highness/ His Royal Highness

    ID – identification/ Idaho

    IMHO – in my honest opinion/ in my humble opinion

    imp. – imperial/ imperative/ imperfect

    inc. – incorporated/ including

    in/ IN – inch/ Indiana

    inf. – infinitive/ informal

    IP – intellectual property/ internet protocol

    IPA – India Pale Ale/ international phonetic alphabet

    K – kilobyte/ thousand (dollars)/ kilometre

    kit/ Kit – drum kit/ sports kit/ Christopher/ Catherine

    KL – Kuala Lumpur/ cool

    kW/ KW – kilowatts/ Kuwait

    L – litre/ left/ large

    LA – Los Angeles/ Louisiana

    Lib/ (women’s) lib – Liberal (Party)/ liberation

    M/ M(1) – million/ medium/ motorway

    MA – Master of Arts/ Massachusetts

    Mac – (Apple) Macintosh (computer)/ Mackintosh (raincoat)

    mason – freemason/ stonemason

    MD – managing director/ medical doctor/ Maryland

    med(s)/ (pre-)med – medicine/ medical

    mg/ MG – milligram/ Morris Garages (sports car company)

    mi/ MI – mile/ Michigan

    mike (or mic)/ Mike – microphone/ Michael

    mil – millimetres/ million (dollars/ pounds)

    min – minimum/ minute(s)

    MN/ Mn – Minnesota/ manganese

    mm/ MM – millimetre(s)/ (two or more) million/ month (written as two digits)

    MO/ Mo – modus operandi/ Missouri/ molybdenum

    MP – member of parliament/ military police (officer)

    MS – multiple sclerosis/ Microsoft/ Mississippi

    Mt/ MT – mount/ Montana

    MW – megawatts/ medium wave

    N/ n – North/ nitrogen/ newton/ nano-/ noun

    N/A – not applicable/ not available

    NE/ Ne – Northeast/ Nebraska/ neon

    nm/ NM – nanometre/ New Mexico

    ng/ NG – nanogram/ not given (in the IELTS exam)/ no good (in electronics)

    NI – Northern Ireland/ national insurance

    omg – oh my goodness/ oh my god

    op/ OP – operation/ original poster

    OR – Oregon/ operating room

    OT – overtime/ occupational therapist

    p – page/ penny or pence (one hundredth of a pound, like cents are for dollars)

    PA – public address (system)/ personal assistant/ per annum (= per year)/ Pennsylvania

    para – paragraph/ paratrooper

    Pat – Patrick/ Patricia

    PC – personal computer/ politically correct (language/ expression)/ police constable

    PD – private detective/ professional development

    PE/ P/E – physical education/ price/earnings

    pen./ pen – penalty (goal)/ penitentiary

    PM – prime minister/ post meridian (= in the afternoon)

    PO – post office/ purchase order

    pol/ POL – politician/ Poland

    pop/ pop. – popular music/ population

    pp/ PP – per pro (meaning “on behalf of”, used in emails)/ pages (repeated letter to mean plural, from Latin)/ past participle

    PPP – public private partnership/ presentation practice production

    PR – public relations/ proportional representation/ Puerto Rico

    prep – preparation/ preposition

    PS/ PS(5) – post scriptum (meaning “by the way” at the end of emails)/ PlayStation (5)

    PT/ pt – part time/ physical training/ point(s)/ pint(s)

    QE/ QE(II) – quantitative easing/ Queen Elizabeth

    R/ r – registered trademark/ Republican/ reigned (from… to…)/ radius

    RA/ Ra – (member of the) Royal Academy/ research assistant/ radium

    re:/ RE – regarding (meaning “concerning”/ “about” in emails)/ religious education

    ref/ (my/ our/ your) ref – referee/ (my/ our/ your) reference

    rep/ (sales) rep – repetition/ reputation/ (sales) representative

    rev/ Rev- revolution/ reverend

    RI – religious instruction/ Rhode Island

    ROM/ Rom – read only memory/ Romania

    S – South/ small

    SAM/ Sam – surface to air missile/ Samuel/ Samantha

    Sat/ sat (nav)/ SAT – Saturday/ satellite navigation/ standard assessment test

    sec.(1)/ SEC – section (1)/ Securities and Exchange Commission/ section

    semi – semi-final/ semi-detached house

    sim/ SIM (card) – simulation/ subscriber identity module

    SD (card)/ SD – Secure Digital (memory card)/ South Dakota

    specs – specifications/ spectacles (= glasses)

    St – street/ saint

    STD/ std – sexually transmitted disease/ standard

    sub – substitute (player/ teacher)/ subway (sandwich)/ substitute/ submissive

    SW – Southwest/ shortwave

    t/ T – ton/ true/ T-shirt

    tape – Scotch tape/ Sellotape/ sticky tape/ cassette tape

    TBA – to be arranged/ to be announced

    temp – temporary (staff/ worker)/ temperature

    trans – transgender/ transsexual/ translation

    TTT – test teach test/ teacher talking time

    U – you/ unit/ university/ uranium/ upper class

    V/ v – voltage/ versus/ verb

    VA – various artists/ Virginia

    val/ Val – value/ Valerie

    VC – venture capital/ Victoria Cross

    VE (Day)/ ’ve – Victory in Europe/ have

    vet – veterinarian (= animal doctor)/ (war/ Vietnam) veteran

    VJ/ VJ (Day) – video jockey/ Victory against Japan (Day)

    W/ w – West/ Watt(s)/ with

    w/o – without/ word order

    WA – Western Australia/ Washington

    WI – Women's Institute/ Wisconsin

    WY – Wyoming/ Would you?

    yr – your/ year

In conclusion, try as much as possible to avoid abbreviations and contractions in your formal writing. It will  help you write complete coherent sentences or better structured sentences for a good formal writing.