One of the most confusing things for non-native speakers (as well as those who are native English speakers) are acronyms used in letters and papers.

1. etc. is short for the word ecetera which means “and so forth.”
2. e.g. is short for the latin word exempli gratia which means for example. The acronym ex. is also sometimes used.
3. i.e. is short for the latin word id est which means that is to say. In speaking, it is often said as “in essence”.
4. cf. is short for the latin word confer which means to reference something. It is used to point the reader to another location in the text.
5. enc. is short for enclosure and used at the bottom of a letter to indicate that another document has been included with the letter. The acronym encl. is also used.
6. Attn: is short for Attention and used at the top portion of a letter or memorandum to list the names of the readers.
7. subj. is short for subject and used at the top portion of a letter or memorandum to display the title of the document.
8. cc: is short for carbon copy and used to identify the other readers a document is sent to. The names you list next to cc: are those readers where no action is required (i.e. you are informing them only.) cc: has also been used to mean courtesy copy.
9. Re: is short for the latin word res which means thing or circumstance. I saw on one site that Re: is misinterpreted as regarding, but i.e. this means practically the same thing.
10. R.S.V.P. is French for “Réspondez s’il vous plaît,” which means Respond if you please. This is used by the writer to tell the reader that a yes or no response to an invitation written in the body of the letter is requested.
11. P.S. is hort for the latin words post scriptus, which means “after having been written”. It is a brief sentence or paragraph which includes additional information the writer wants to include. Although still commonly used in an informal letter, it is not widely accepted for use in formal or business letters.
    

    Why? It’s best to include it in the body of the letter otherwise you lessen the importance of what is written. Note: The post script served a function during the typewriter error, allowing the writer to add other information forgotten while typing, but now everything is done on computer, so the post script serves no purpose.

12. w/o is short for without.
13. c. or ca means around and comes from the latin word circa. You would use it to describe something relatively old like a book printed in 1900 would be this book is circa 1900.

Popularity: 52%

Comments

Copy and paste the code below into your web site (Ctrl+C to copy) to link to this page.

<a href="http://my.e-homework.info/blog/archives/273">eHomework.info</a>