Q. I am an elementary school teacher and am confronted with an abbreviation debate. How should the abbreviation of United States of America be taught? I am finding that it is acceptable in several forms, but I would like to be as accurate as possible.
A. I appreciate the difficulty of a teacher who wants to present children with what’s “correct,” but I’m afraid there is no single right answer to your question. Chicago style is USA (without periods), but we also accept both US and U.S. Other authoritative style manuals and dictionaries vary in their recommendations. Please see CMOS 10.4 and 10.32 for guidelines and discussion. Maybe you could show your class the choices and vote on your own house style.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hello, another question from New Zealand. I am unsure as to the rules for spelling out what abbreviations stand for. In the
passage I am proofreading, we refer to the DSD and the BPD, which stand for the design strategy document and the business
process document, respectively. Am I right in thinking these should be lowercase when written in full?
A. Yes, that’s right. There is no need to uppercase common noun phrases simply because they can be represented
by an acronym or initialism.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Should a noun that is represented by an acronym be initial capped upon first reference, e.g., ground fault circuit interrupter
(GFCI) vs. Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI)? Also, would this noun be initial capped (sans acronym) throughout the
rest of the document?
A. No. Unless the phrase is a proper noun, there is no reason to capitalize it.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. As a graduate of the College at the University of Chicago, I received an A.B. degree in anthropology. I have traditionally listed my degree as “A.B. Anthropology, University of Chicago.” However, in preparing my résumé for inclusion in proposals, my employer wants to list it as “B.A. Anthropology, University of Chicago.” What is the correct format, or is there no difference?
A. I don’t think I’d argue with an employer over this, especially since the University of Chicago’s anthropology department website itself refers to the BA degree (no periods, which happens to be Chicago style now also). If an institution were known for a distinctive styling of a degree, it might be a good idea always to follow that style, lest a reader familiar with the convention think the résumé was faked. Otherwise, it probably isn’t important.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Most people no longer use a typewriter and carbon paper when making a copy of a letter. Does that mean that “cc”
should now be just “c”?
A. Not necessarily. In language, it’s common for conventions to outlive their original meanings. We still
talk about a “dial tone,” for instance, even though very few of us have dials
on our phones. The convention is to write “cc,” so I would continue to do that.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am surprised that you spell Ms (as in Ms Helen Jones) with a period (Ms. Helen Jones). Nothing is being abbreviated (as in Mr. or Mrs.). Our University Senate adopted plain Ms in its documents some time ago!
A. Chicago style is to use a period after “Ms.” even though it’s not technically an abbreviation, following Merriam-Webster, which suggests that “Ms.” is a shortened form combining “Miss” and “Mrs.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hello. I’m editing this passage: “I liked not ever knowing when I was going to be UA’d, because in the beginning of my treatment it made me stay off the pills.” UA stands for “urinalysis.” Is it correct to include an apostrophe in “UA’d”? Would appreciate your help very much.
A. Yes, that looks right to me. “UA” in your sentence is like the verb “OD” (for “overdose”), for which Merriam-Webster gives the forms “OD’d or ODed,” and “OD’ing.” “UAed” would also work, if you want to avoid the apostrophe (which marks the omission of the letter e).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. What if Turabian says to use periods with A.D. and B.C. but CMOS recommends no periods—when Turabian is the guide specified for a thesis?
Q. I’m editing an army paper, and they put EVERYTHING in caps, which I reduce to lowercase when possible.
Is the following okay, or do the spelled-out names get lowercased in such cases? “For analysis purposes,
the Fatigue-Avoidance Scheduling Tool (FAST), based on the Sleep, Activity, Fatigue, and Task-Effectiveness (SAFTE) model.
. . .”
A. I would query the author rather than go ahead with lowercasing. Sometimes such terms are the titles of internal memos or
reports; sometimes the intended audience has long become used to finding the capped terms easily in the text; sometimes writers
in a given subject area have a strong tradition of capping in this way. Once the terms are lowercased it’s
not easy to put them back in caps, so it’s better to negotiate with the author first.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Dear Sir or Madam: My client prefers to use the article a before an abbreviation such as LCMOS. I suggest using an, since the letter L is pronounced “ell.” What does the Chicago Manual of Style recommend?
A. When an abbreviation follows an indefinite article, the choice of a or an is determined by the way the abbreviation would be read aloud, so in this case, we would use an. Please see CMOS 10.9 for more information and examples.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]