Abbreviating words
When writing in a formal style, do not abbreviate words
unless you are using dialogue.
Omitting letters
If you omit letters from a word to abbreviate it, put an
apostrophe in place of the letters.
Cannot Can’t
Could have Could’ve
Do not Don’t
It has It’s
It is It’s‘Its’ possessive hasnoapostrophe.
It’s = it is or it has
The abbreviation for ‘have’ is ‘ve’not‘of’.
Could’ve = could have Might’ve = might haveShortening a word
If a word is shortened and therefore the missing letters are at
theendof the word, a full stop is used to indicate this:
abbreviation abbr.
adjective adj.
adverb adv.
document doc.
etcetera etc.
information info.
language lang.The names of counties are also shortened and require full
stops. They always start with capital letters.
Berkshire Berks.
Buckinghamshire Bucks.HANDLING APOSTROPHES AND ABBREVIATIONS / 99