Abbreviations That Do Not Take Periods
Abbreviations
Rulebase Summary
Do not use periods in abbreviations for: government agencies, abbreviations with more letters than words they represent, radio or TV call letters, IOU and SOS, letters standing for hypothetical people or entities, airport designations, or common well-known abbreviations (with a few exceptions). In general, the trend is away from using periods in abbreviations.
Examples
A. She filed a complaint with the E.P.A. last month.
A. She filed a complaint with the EPA last month.
Government agency abbreviation — no periods.
Q. Did you fly into L.A.X. that evening?
Q. Did you fly into LAX that evening?
Airport designation — no periods.
Transcript Notes
The trend in modern usage is to omit periods from abbreviations. Periods are still more common in formal English, but in everyday media they are rarely used. There may be times you want to follow the form used by the specific industry involved.
Style Guide References (11)
BGGP
BGGP
BGGP
BGGP
BGGP
BGGP
BGGP
BGGP
Morson's
Morson's
Morson's