Examples of Shortening Words:
There are several ways to shorten words, each with its own terminology and examples:
1. Clipping: Removing part of a word to create a shorter form.
* Examples:
* Lab from "laboratory"
* Ad from "advertisement"
* Phone from "telephone"
* Prof from "professor"
* Photo from "photograph"
2. Blending: Combining parts of two or more words to create a new word.
* Examples:
* Brunch from "breakfast" and "lunch"
* Smog from "smoke" and "fog"
* Motel from "motor" and "hotel"
* Bit from "binary digit"
* Brexit from "British" and "exit"
3. Acronyms: Forming a word from the initial letters of a phrase.
* Examples:
* NATO from "North Atlantic Treaty Organization"
* NASA from "National Aeronautics and Space Administration"
* UN from "United Nations"
* ATM from "Automated Teller Machine"
* DIY from "Do It Yourself"
4. Initialisms: Similar to acronyms, but the letters are pronounced individually.
* Examples:
* BBC from "British Broadcasting Corporation"
* FBI from "Federal Bureau of Investigation"
* USA from "United States of America"
* MP from "Member of Parliament"
* VIP from "Very Important Person"
5. Apostrophe Shortening: Using an apostrophe to indicate omitted letters.
* Examples:
* It's from "it is"
* Can't from "cannot"
* Don't from "do not"
* I'm from "I am"
* We're from "we are"
6. Other Shortening Methods:
* Using informal or slang terms: "Hiya" for "hello", "wanna" for "want to"
* Using suffixes: "Handy" for "handyman", "Burger" for "hamburger"
Note: Shortening words can be informal, slang, or formal depending on the context and the specific word.