Abbreviations and Signs / A Primer of Information about Abbreviations and Signs, with Classified Lists of Those in Most Common Use

by Frederick W. Hamilton

QUESTIONS

1. How and why were abbreviations used before typography?

2. How did the early printers use abbreviations?

3. What is the best usage with regard to abbreviations?

4. What is the general rule for the use of abbreviations?

5. What is the difference in usage between book work and some other kinds of printing?

6. What use of abbreviations do we find in certain special work and what may be done to make their use easier?

7. What are the rules for the use of abbreviations in dates?

8. What are the common abbreviations for the names of the months and the days of the week?

9. Give the Dewey dates.

10. What is the rule for ages?

11. How do we treat references to decades?

12. How do we treat numbers of centuries and the like?

13. What is the rule for sums of money?

14. What is the rule for round numbers?

15. How do we treat numbers when they begin a sentence?

16. What is the rule about numbers of less than three digits?

17. What classes of numbers are ordinarily expressed in figures?

18. What is the usage with regard to geographical names?

19. What are the rules for names?

20. What is the usage in printing titles?

21. How do we treat names of book sizes?

22. How do we treat weights and measures?

23. Give the order of specification in footnotes.

24. Where is &c not used?

25. How are by-laws treated?

26. How are figures used with illustrations?

27. What is said of the use of the period in footnotes?

28. How do we treat page references in the text?

29. How do we treat references to series of years?

30. How do we print dialect, slang, and the like?

31. How do we print such abbreviations as I've, you've, and the like?

32. What is said of certain improper abbreviations and how to avoid them?

The teacher should give frequent drills in the application of these rules. Sentences containing matter which involves the use of abbreviations and signs should be given out orally and the pupil required to write them out and set them up. The pupil should be required to explain by reference to the rules the use and the omission of abbreviations and the work should be criticised by the class or by the instructor with reference to the rules.

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