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Be Careful with Acronyms – Advice from Thomas Hauck, Ghostwriter

Acronyms are ubiquitous in both business writing and novels. But you have to be careful and consistent in how you construct them! Here’s an actual excerpt from an article in The New York Times published on September 1, 2017. The political article was entitled, “Mueller Has Early Draft of Trump Letter Giving Reasons for Firing Comey”:

“His conduct during the hearing added to concerns held by Mr. Sessions and Mr. Rosenstein that the F. B. I director had botched the Clinton investigation and had overstepped the boundaries of his job.

“Two days after Mr. Comey’s testimony, Mr. Rosenstein had a meeting with a White House lawyer at the Justice Department, where Mr. Rosenstein expressed concern about how the F. B. I director had handled the Clinton investigation. The White House lawyer relayed the details of the conversation to his bosses at the White House.”

Look carefully at the acronym for “FBI.” Notice on both occasions the “I” doesn’t have a period after it, making you stop and read it again to make sure the “I” isn’t the first person personal pronoun.

I don’t use periods when writing acronyms. I believe they are pointless. That’s why I always write FBI, or USA, or NORAD. However, if you choose to use periods, be consistent, and write F.B.I. (leaving no spaces between the characters).

Thomas Hauck ghostwriter, book editor, author

 

 

 

 

 

– Thomas Hauck is a professional ghostwriter and book editor serving the most demanding authors.

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