Acronym rules

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, one of the most widely used writing and citation style guides in America, there are some basic rules about acronyms.

1) Spell it out on first use!
Unless an acronym is so well-known that spelling it out is silly and almost insulting (e.g. CD-ROM), you should spell it out upon first reference. Put the acronym in parentheses on first use, and starting the second reference on, just use the acronym. Take a look at the following example:

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. ASEAN was created in 1967 and aims at promoting economic growth and cooperation among its member nations: (o)
  
• ASEAN is an organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. ASEAN was created in 1967 and aims at promoting economic growth and cooperation among its member nations (x): some readers may not know what ASEAN is. you should spell it out on first reference!
• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is an organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was created in 1967 and aims at promoting economic growth and cooperation among its member nations (x): repetitive and wordy! use the acronym to make it succinct.

2) Lowercase vs. Uppercase
There is no reason to capitalize the first letters of a noun just because it has an acronym. You only uppercase first letters when the noun is a proper noun.

• Lowercase (non-proper nouns): free trade agreements (FTAs), improvised explosive device (IED), standard operation procedures (SOPs) ...
  
• Uppercase (proper nouns): American Bar Association (ABA), North Carolina (NC), Department of Defense (DOD) ...
  

Part II in our never-ending battle with "the": proper nouns and articles

1) proper noun
Proper nouns (고유명사) are nouns that represent unique entities, such as names, places, and things. Generally, you need to capitalize the first letters, and should not put "the" before them.

• Seoul, Tokyo, Samsung, Hong Gil-dong .... (o)
• seoul, tokyo, the Samsung, hong gil-dong .... (x)

But common nouns (일반명사) also serve as proper nouns when paired with other words to create a name for an entity. For example, words like ministry, trade, and foreign affairs are all common nouns, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a proper noun. This kind of proper nouns are generally preceded by the.

• the Department of State, the Harvard School of Government, the White House ... (o)
  
• Department of State, Harvard school of government, the white house ... (x)
  

2) proper noun + description
You need to determine which article to use depending on whether the proper noun is preceded or followed by the description thereof. Take a look at the following examples:

• The American tire maker Goodyear did...
• Goodyear, an American tire maker, did...
• American tire maker Goodyear's action is.... (You are pairing "American tire maker" and "Goodyear" into one proper noun. So no "the". It is like you never say "the Tom's book." You should always say "Tom's book")

• The Korean car company KIA said...
• KIA, a Korean car company, said...
• Korean car company KIA's sales increased...
  

3) Acronyms
I have already tried to explain this in another post (April 3, 2010 "Frustrated with a/an/the? You are not alone!"), but a lot of people still seem to be very confused. Let me give it another try!

When common nouns are paired to form a proper noun, the end result is generally a very long proper noun. So people usually use acronyms. For example, instead of saying "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade," people say MOFAT. A lot of Korean students are not sure about which article (a,an, the) to put before acronyms.

• The FBI, the CIA, the UN ... : For acronyms of organization names that you pronounce each letter separately, use "the."
• WIPO, UNICEF, UNESCO, NATO ... : For acronyms of organization names that are pronounced as one word, do not put "the" before them.
• BP, LG, KFC, AT&T ... : Even if you pronounce each letter in these acronyms, they are so commonly used that they became non-acronymous proper nouns. That is, no one really cares what each letters stand for any more. In this case, do not use "the."
  

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom consists of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. When you say 영국, it means the United Kingdom, not England.

The proper adjective from of the United Kingdom therefore is either "U.K." or "British", not "English." Take a look at the following examples:

• the British government/the U.K. government (o)
• British English (o)
  
• the British Parliament/the U.K. Parliament (o)
• a British scientist (o)

• an English scientist (x, unless you are emphasizing the fact that this person is from England)
  
• the English government (x)
• the English Parliament (x)
  

Seoul vs. South Korea

As you know, in English writing, capital cities represent their respective countries. For example, instead of saying "the United States decided to do something," you can say "Washington decided to do something."

However, make sure to use a country's capital only when the national government is doing something on behalf of the entire nation. Otherwise, your sentence could be misunderstood as concerning the city government or the capital city itself. Take a look at the following examples.

미국의 지적자본이 경쟁국들의 지적자본보다 뒤쳐짐에 따라 우리의 명성이 위험에 처해있다.

• As Washington's intellectual capital lags behind that of its competitors, our prominence is at risk (x): You are not talking about the intellectual capital of federal government officials or the city of Washington, D.C.
  
• As America's intellectual capital lags behind that of its competitors, our prominence is at risk (o) (Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2009)

영국의 한 저명한 기후과학자는 영국 정부의 기후 변화 정책이 위험할 정도로 낙관적이라고 경고하였다.

• A leading UK climate scientist warned that the UK government's climate change policies are dangerously optimistic (o) (Guardian, June 23, 2009)
• A leading UK climate scientist warned that London's climate change policies are dangerously optimistic (x): London here could mean either the city government of London or the UK government, depending on the context.
  

Frustrated with "a/an/the"? You are not alone!

This is arguably the trickiest part of learning English for non-native speakers. Frankly, I am not convinced that even native English speakers know how to select the correct article (a, an, the). They just do it intuitively and often get it incorrect. So if you are frustrated with articles, don't be discouraged too much because there are millions of people out there struggling with the same issue.

In this post, I am going to focus on the correct use of "the." The basic rule is that "the" is for something specific. So what makes a noun specific? Here are some examples.

1) When you are referring to something you have already mentioned.

• I saw a guy lurking around my house. I told my mom and she asked the guy to leave.
  

2) Proper noun or well known entities

• The New York Times, the United Nations, the Supreme Court, the Cold War etc.

3) Acronyms: do NOT put "the" when they are pronounced as one word, but put "the" when each letter is pronounced (I have to warn you that there are so many exceptions to this rule)

• with "the": the FBI, the UN, the USA etc.
  
• without "the": NATO, AIDS (as in HIV/AIDS), UNICEF, UNESCO etc.
  
• exceptions: UCLA, MIT (as in Massachusetts Institute of Technology) etc.
  

4) Collective unit:

• The 1980s were characterized by the expansion of neo-liberalism.
  

5) Some nouns followed by a modifier (of, that, who etc.) that clearly limits the meaning of the noun

• I have the necessary skills that one needs for successful administrative coordination.
  
• The family of the victim filed a lawsuit.
  

Let me emphasize that these are not meant to be an exhaustive list of the rules behind "the". The only rule that holds in any context is that "the" is for something specific. Everything depends on the context!

The following is based on some of the most common mistakes I have seen among Korean students preparing for the Korean foreign service exam. Make sure you remember whether to put "the" or not with the following words!

WITHOUT the

• Congress (with capital C, meaning 미 의회): The Korea-US Free Trade Agreement is facing an uphill battle in Congress.
  
• society: Try to use your expertise to give back to society.
  

WITH the

• the AAAA industry: The newly enacted law is welcomed by the banking industry.
  
• the BBBB community: The international community is keenly concerned about human rights abuse in North Korea.
  
• the U.S. Congress: Members of the U.S. Congress are split on health care reform.
• the media: The media is a watchdog that ensures government transparency.
  
• the Internet (with capital I): The creation of the Internet changed our lives completely.
• the economy: "It's the economy, stupid!" (This is a phrase Bill Clinton used during his 1992 presidential campaign. When you are referring to 경제 as a general concept, i.e. everything related to the production and consumption of goods and services in an area, you need to put "the")
  

One last tip: when you are saying "AAAA's BBBB", make sure you do not modify BBBB with both "the" and possessives.

• The government's policy (o): "the" goes with "government", so it means "the policy of the government"
  
• the America's policy (x): here, "the" goes with "policy". So you are basically modifying "policy" redundantly with both "the" and "America's". The correct expression is "America's policy" or "the policy of America"