Complex abbreviated words are a kind of abbreviations that are formed by the initial elements of each name. Simply put, if you add the first few letters of each word in the phrase “local committee”, you get “local committee”. This is one of the ways to shorten long names, which was widely used in the USSR and remains popular to this day.
What are compound words? Examples: samizdat, cultural enlightenment, the Ministry of Defense, Gosstandartmetrologiya, social welfare, collective farm, educational program.
There are several rules that determine how certain compound words are written and used.
Spelling
- All compound words are written together. Examples: local committee, wall newspaper, Mosodezhda.
- Each part of the resulting word is written in the same way as it would be written in the original word. Thus, the letters "b" and "b" cannot stand between these parts. On the other hand, a soft sign is written at the end of a part if there is a letter after it"a", "o", "y", "e" (for example, boneutil).
- At the beginning of the second part, "s" is not written: State Political Publishing House, Pedagogical Institute.
- "E" after consonants is written only if the original word begins with it: Mosenergo, NEP.
Lower and uppercase letters
- Complex abbreviated words are always written in small letters, if the first abbreviated word is not a proper name: rabkor, cultural work, overalls.
- Abbreviations that are read not by the names of letters, but by sounds, are written in small letters: rono, university, bunker.
- If abbreviated words mean the name of an organization or institution, then they are capitalized: Mossovet, Oblgaz.
Writing abbreviations
An abbreviation is similar to compound words, but, unlike them, is formed only by the first letters of each compound element. For example, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
- If the entire abbreviation is read by the names of the letters, then it is written in capital letters: USSR, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Central Committee, MTS, CPSU.
- The entire abbreviation is written in capital letters if it denotes the name of the organization. For example: EEC (European Economic Society), MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), UN (United Nations).
- If the abbreviation can be inclined, then its ending is written in small letters: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, TASS.
- If one part of the abbreviation is read by sounds, and the other by letters, then the whole word is written in capitals: CDSA (read "tse-de-sa").
- If a proper name is abbreviated, and one of the words is truncated to several letters, and the rest to one, then only the first letter is capitalized: AzSSR.
Use in Literature
Almost all compound words are meant to be used in spoken language, not in literature. But there are a few common abbreviations that can be used in all literature other than those intended for beginning readers:
- t. etc. - the like
- pr. – other
- other – others
- see – see
- t. e. – i.e.
- t. etc. – so on
- cf. – compare
- g. – year
- gg. – years
- ex. – e.g.
- in. – age
- st. Art. – old style
- t. – volume
- c. – century
- tt. – volumes
- reg. – region
- n. e. – AD
- oz. – lake
- g. – city
- p. – river
- w. e. – railway
- n. Art. – new style
- Assoc. – assistant professor
- Acad. – Academician
- prof. – professor
- p. – page
- im. – name
- gr. – citizen
Other words are abbreviated according to several rules:
- You can't abbreviate with a vowel and with "b": Karelian - "k.", "kar.", but not "ka.", "kare.", "karel.".
- When doubling consonants, abbreviation should be done after the first of them: wall - "sten.", grammatical - "gram." When several different consonants coincide, it actsthe opposite rule: reduction is done to the last consonant. For example, folk - “folk”, Russian - “Russian”, artificial - “art.”
