Acronym vs. Abbreviation

[Nicholas]

Hello

Could you please clearly differentiate between 'acronym' and 'abbreviation' as well as give some examples of them? Thanks...

Is NATO an acronym or abbreviation?

For example, department of economic (DE)...is this an acro or abbre?

thanks a lot in advance...

[Alan]

Hi,

An acronym is made up of the first letters of a group of words and is then capabale of being spoken as a 'word'. NATO is therefore an acronym but USA is not.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Nicholas]

Thanks, Alan.

But can acronyms be pronounced as letters as well as abbreviations?

[Torsten]

Hi Nicholas,

As Alan explained, an acronym is pronounced as a word rather than letters. You don't say "I work for the 'n', 'a', 't', 'o'." but "I work for the Nato." By the way, you might want to read Alan's essay on acronyms and abbreviations.

Let me know what you think.
Regards,
Torsten
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