The Canadian Style
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Chapters
- - Close Abbreviations
- Introduction to Abbreviations
- General guidelines and observations
- Periods
- Plurals
- Capital letters and hyphens
- Titles used with personal names
- Military abbreviations
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- + Hyphenation: Compounding and Word Division
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- - Close Abbreviations
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1.05 Capital letters and hyphens
In general, an abbreviation is capitalized or hyphenated if the unabbreviated word or words are so treated:
- Lt.-Gov.
- Lieutenant-Governor
- MLA
- Member of the Legislative Assembly
- UBC
- University of British Columbia
When an abbreviation is formed from letters most or all of which are part of a single word, it is capitalized, even though the full term is not:
- ACTH
- adrenocorticotrophic hormone
- DNA
- deoxyribonucleic acid
- ESP
- extrasensory perception
- TV
- television
See 1.16 Acronyms and initialisms for rules governing the capitalization of acronyms and initialisms.
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