Compound words are a type of abbreviations that are formed by the initial elements of each item. Simply put, if in the phrase "local committee" to add the first few letters of each word, it turns out to be "local". This is one of the ways to shorten long names, which was widely used in the USSR and remains popular until now.
What are compound words? Examples: samizdat, cultural enlightenment, the Ministry of Defense, Gosstandartmetrology, social security, collective farm, educational program.
There are several rules that determine how certain complex words are written and used.
Spelling
- All compound words are written together. Examples: local, wall newspaper, clothing.
- Each part of the resulting word is written in the same way as it would be written in the original word. Thus, the letters "b" and "b" cannot stand between these parts. On the other hand, a soft sign is written at the end of the part if it is followed by the letter "a", "o", "y", "e" (for example, costutil).
- At the beginning of the second part, “s” are not written: State Political Publishing House, Pedagogical Institute.
- "E" after consonants is written only if the source word begins with it: Mosenergo, NEP.
Uppercase and lowercase letters
- Compound abbreviated words are always written in small letters, if the first abbreviated word is not a proper name: work correspondent, cultural work, overalls.
- Abbreviations read not by the names of letters, but by sounds, are written in small letters: rono, university, bunker.
- If compound words mean the name of an organization or institution, then they are capitalized: Moscow City Council, Oblgaz.
Abbreviations
The abbreviation is similar to complex words, but, in contrast to them, it is formed only by the first letters of each composite element. For example, the Ministry of the Interior is the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
- If the entire abbreviation is read by the names of the letters, then it is written in capital letters: USSR, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Central Committee, MTS, CPSU.
- All abbreviations are written in capital letters if it denotes the name of the organization. For example: EEC (European Economic Society), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), UN (United Nations).
- If the abbreviation can be inclined, then its ending is written in small letters: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, TASS.
- If one part of the abbreviation is read by sounds, and the other by letters, then the whole word is written in capital letters: CDSA (read "tse-de-sa").
- If a proper name is abbreviated, and one of the words is truncated to several letters, and the rest to one, then only the first letter is capitalized: AzSSR.
Use in literature
Almost all complex words are intended for use in spoken language, and not in literature. But there are several generally accepted abbreviations that can be used in all literature, except the one intended for novice readers:
- etc. - the like
- etc. - other
- others - others
- see - see
- i.e., i.e.
- etc. - so on.
- Wed - compare
- year - year
- years - of the year
- e.g. - eg
- in. - century
- Art. Art. - old style
- t. - tom
- centuries - centuries
- tt - volumes
- reg. - area
- n e. - ad
- Lake - lake
- g. - city
- R. - river
- g. d. - railway
- n Art. - new style
- Assoc. - assistant professor
- Acad. - academician
- prof. - Professor
- page - page
- them. - name
- column - citizen
Other words are abbreviated according to several rules:
- You can not reduce it to the vowel and to “b”: Karelian - “K.”, “Kar.”, But not “ka.”, “Kare.”, “Karel.”.
- When doubling the consonants, the reduction should be done after the first of them: wall - “walls.”, Grammatical - “gram.”. If several different consonants coincide, the opposite rule applies: the reduction is made to the last consonant. For example, folk - "folk.", Russian - "Russian.", Artificial - "art."