Abbreviations and Addresses

So we’ve talked about the most important stuff within this this lesson about numbers and dates about symbols.

These are the things you see most often but I feel like because this is the class on technical description and that we’re trying to get through this stuff which is what many people would say a little less interesting it’s important to make sure that you’re clear on one point about the difference between abbreviations and acronyms.

What’s an abbreviation an abbreviation is when you have one word that is shorthand.

One example would be S T which is the abbreviation of the word street one word shortened one you probably know D R is the abbreviation of the word doctor or sometimes drive sometimes P H L is the abbreviation of philosophy e t c is the abbreviation of the word et cetera et cetera or etc.

People say both et cetera et cetera.

Now notice that when we write abbreviations we usually have this period at the end to market but sometimes it becomes so common that it’s basically the only thing we say and we often get rid of that if that’s the case.

Example this one we often just say now an app and we don’t even write the period anymore.

This is short for application because it’s so commonly said as app now instead of application we often just get rid of that period and say app and now we say things like apps.

What do you do for a living.

Oh I build apps I build apps.

OK.

So that’s very common and because it’s so common we get rid of the period.

Now what about an acronym an acronym is a way to shorten things but each letter is capital capitalized and each letter stands for or represents its own word for example and B A or BBC or a T M A.T.M.

for

example stands for automatic teller machine.

One mistake people often make is that they’ll say I need to go to the A.T.M.

machine what people should say is I need to go to the A.T.M.

not I need to go to the A.T.M.

machine because if you’re saying that you’re saying automatic teller machine machine I’ve made that mistake before as well but it’s it’s something that you’ll hear quite often.

So each first letter is used in the word and some of them are really long like scuba if you hear people say I’m going to go scuba diving.

That’s a common word means you’re going to go underwater and breathe underwater.

But because each letter is kind of a long thing it’s much easier just to say scuba scuba gear scuba diving write great scuba spot or a location for scuba diving.

So that’s the difference between acronyms and abbreviations since we’ve talked about abbreviations we should just very quickly go over addresses because you do see addresses from time to time so you’ll typically have the street first and then the building and then sometimes another part of the location and we might then under that have the state and what’s called the zip code of the city the state and the zip code or if it’s in Canada or the province the city the province and the zip code zip code tells you where in the world or where in the country it is.

It’s a number.

So two Bay s t means street 200 Bay Street.

Sweet sweet.

It’s kind of like room 180 sometimes 180 instead of one hundred eighty.

Royal Court CTC o u r t.

OK so this is how we would read that 200 Bay Street Suite 180 royal court.

Pretty simple.

This one apartment two building 18 apartment two building so AAPT is Apartment B L DG The Site B L G.D.

is building and sometimes things are abbreviated differently in different places.

So for example in England and America things might be abbreviated a little differently.

So apartment two building 18 5 8 9 9.

So if it’s an address you don’t need to say five thousand eight hundred ninety nine.

No.

5 just say the numbers if it’s an address 5 8 9 9 Callister Boulevard a boulevard is a big road.

Boulevard.

OK.

Callister Boulevard De Moyne the Moyne.

This is pronounced do Moin.

I know it looks like death’s Moin is but it’s pronounced de.

And then Moy in Des Moines Des Moines Iowa.

So in America states always have two letters.

It’s a kind of an.

It’s a special abbreviation.

It’s a special sort of code.

For example I come from Ohio and that one is O H New York is NY.

OK.

So Iowa is I.

A.

Des Moines Iowa.

They’re all different.

There are 50.

OK then you have the zip code.

DES MOINES Iowa 7 8 5 5 4.

So you also read this one just like the street.

You don’t say seven the eight thousand five hundred fifty four.

Just say the number.

So that’s how you would read addresses and that’s how you would include the abbreviations notice for the abbreviations we say the whole thing usually for apps.

We don’t because it’s so common to shorten it for acronyms we don’t.

Because that’s the reason we make the acronym because it’s shorter.

But for most abbreviations we’ll say the whole word.

All right.

So we’ve covered a lot in this lesson we’ve covered how to say dates we’ve covered how to talk about addresses abbreviations acronyms numbers symbols things in order.

We’ve talked about a lot of things including math problems a lot in this lesson.

And the best way to really practice it is to look out for it.

And when you see it the things that we went over in this lesson whether it’s a long number or a Web site U.R.L.

or an email address or the address of some place or an abbreviation anything related to what we talked about a symbol that’s used.

Speak it out loud.

Just say it out loud.

That’s the best way for you to get used to saying it.

One of the problems with these is not that they’re hard but it’s that it’s hard to do it quickly and when we say these things things that are related to technical descriptions it’s tough to say it quickly it’s tough to get it out.

So you have to do it a lot.

And the best way to do it is just to practice next time you type in it.

You are all quickly say it out loud.

OK.

That’s the best way to actually get the feeling for it.

The best way to get comfortable with it.

Good luck.

See you in the next lesson.