by Mel Mcintyre

Created on: February 07, 2010

Is Ltd. an abbreviation or a contraction? 

Is it more correct to write Prof. for Professor or to leave out the dots altogether?

This is an area of grammar that can often stymie the best of us. And yet, according to all the best sources, it’s not that hard to understand.

The word abbreviation comes from the Latin brevis, meaning short. An abbreviation, by definition, is created by omitting the end of the word. The word is abbreviated – shortened – by using only the first part of it. For instance, Lieut. is the abbreviation for Lieutenant. Likewise, abbr. is the abbreviation for the word “abbreviation.”

A contraction, on the other hand, uses the beginning and end of the word and leaves out some of the letters in the middle. The new word is a “contracted” version of the old one, a slender, tighter, tapered adaptation. So, for example, Limited would be written as Ltd if it were contracted, st for street, and dept for department.

You’ll notice something else different between them, as well: when a word is abbreviated, the abbreviation is followed by a period or full stop, as in Lieut. When a contraction is formed, as in Ltd for Limited, there is no period or full stop necessary.

And that period or full stop tells you everything you need to know. If it’s an abbreviation, you can bet there’ll be a full stop following, as in maj. for major. Also notice how it’s formed from the first half of the word. If it’s a contraction, there’ll be no period, as in mfg for manufacturing, formed by combining the first letter, the last letter, and a letter from the middle of the word.

Of course, the whole problem with contractions is made worse by what are called informal contractions. These are the contracted forms of words, with the aid of an apostrophe, such as can’t for cannot or I’ve for I have. They are contractions, certainly, but contractions of more than one word. 

Typically, whenever two or more words are contracted, it’s necessary to use an apostrophe. For the purposes of this article, however, we’re concentrating on contractions of single words only.

It’s time for some new definitions, and possibly to simplify the whole procedure: 

Abbreviations use a full stop or period but never include the last letter of the word, such as doz. for dozen. 
Contractions have no period or full stop and always include the last letter of the word, as in govt for government.

This makes the structure and formation of contractions and abbreviations easier to grasp, wouldn’t you say? And hopefully that information will resolve any problems you might have understanding the difference between them – once and for all.

Q.E.D.

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