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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
Usage

Definite article "the" before abbreviation?

Hello,
I am unsure whether to use a "the" before an abbreviation. I heard about a rule, that an the article should be placed before initialisms (the USA decided..., the STL provides template functions...), but not before acronyms (NASA reported..., NATO is willing to help...). I am not sure about this rule and did not find anything related to this question in the web or the a.e.usage FAQ.
Thanks in advance,
Jens Mueller
  

Top answer

[nq:2]Hello, I am unsure whether to use a "the" before ... usage FAQ. Thanks in advance, Jens Mueller[/nq] Here's what I do: Say the non-abbreviated version of the name to yourself.

  • [nq:2]Hello, I am unsure whether to use a "the" before ...
  • usage FAQ.
  • Thanks in advance, Jens Mueller[/nq] Here's what I do: Say the non-abbreviated version of the name to yourself.
  • If you'd normally say "the" before it, then type a "the" before it when you type the abbreviation.
  • This works well in every case I can think of - at least when the abbreviation is part of a sentence.
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18 Answers
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[nq:2]Hello, I am unsure whether to use a "the" before ... web or the a.e.usage FAQ. Thanks in advance, Jens Mueller[/nq]
Here's what I do: Say the non-abbreviated version of the name to yourself. If you'd normally say "the" before it, then type a "the" before it when you type the abbreviation. This works well in every case I can think of - at least when the abbreviation is part of a sentence.
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[nq:1]I am unsure whether to use a "the" before an abbreviation. I heard about a rule, that an the article should be placed before initialisms (the USA decided..., the STL provides template functions...), but not before acronyms (NASA reported..., NATO is willing to help...).[/nq]
Because these are proper names whether acronyms or not, there is no general or overall rule. These four examples o
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[nq:1]Here's what I do: Say the non-abbreviated version of the name to yourself. If you'd normally say "the" before it, ... of a sentence. If you were making a list of abbreviated names, you might choose to dispense with the "the".[/nq]
That method doesn't work for me on either NASA or NATO: if giving their full names in a sentence I'd precede both with "the".

Odysseus
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[nq:2]Here's what I do: Say the non-abbreviated version of the ... abbreviated names, you might choose to dispense with the "the".[/nq]
[nq:1]That method doesn't work for me on either NASA or NATO: if giving their full names in a sentence I'd precede both with "the".[/nq]
I found the rule mentioned above as
(cite)
Whether to use "the" before an acronym that is used as a noun depend
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Jens Mueller schrieb:
[nq:1]I found the rule mentioned above as (cite) Whether to use "the" before an acronym that is used as a noun depends on whether the acronym is read as a series of letters or as a neologism (coined word). (/cite)[/nq]
So that's your distinction between an "initialism" and an "acronym"!

"SCSI is not as common as EIDE" is IMHO spoken as "scuzzy is not as commo
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[nq:1]Jens Mueller schrieb:[/nq]
[nq:2]I found the rule mentioned above as (cite) Whether to ... series of letters or as a neologism (coined word). (/cite)[/nq]
[nq:1]So that's your distinction between an "initialism" and an "acronym"![/nq]
This not my definition, but the definition to be found at the ALT.USAGE.ENGLISH FAQ FILE at
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Jens Mueller schrieb:
[nq:1]I personally share the opinion that, depending on the context, for both acronyms and initialisms the article can be correct ... other insists on the article's usage. I definitely need a rule for this, but it seems that none exists
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[nq:1]Jens Mueller schrieb:[/nq]
[nq:2]I personally share the opinion that, depending on the context, ... rule for this, but it seems that none exists
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[nq:1]Unfortunately I can not, because it is defined by ourselves: DatTeL - data parallel template library[/nq]
.. then you get to write your own rules, more-or-less.

In C++ one generally refers to "the STL" (even though there's really no such thing any more ... it's all part of "the Standard Library"), you could use that nomenclature as a model?
[nq:1]We decided to throw out the
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Daniel James schrieb:
[nq:2]We decided to throw out the article when referring to DatTeL,[/nq]
[nq:1]Fair enough. If "DatTeL" is the proper name of a product it seems reasonable that the same rules that apply to other proper nouns should apply to it.[/nq]
"Dattel" is also the name of a fruit (the "date"), so not using the article helps to distinguish the two in spoken German.

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