LOOKING AT APOSTROPHES AND ABBREVIATIONS / 73 USING INITIAL LETTERS It is becoming increasingly common to describe companies or organisations only by the initial letters of the name of the group. This is now so prevalent that we often forget what the original letters stood for! It is no longer considered necessary to put a full stop after each capital letter. Here are some examples: Acronyms are words that are formed by the initial letters and we usually say the word rather than the letters: AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ANZAC Australian and New Zealand Army Corps ASH Action on Smoking and Health LAMDA London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art LASER Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation NASA National Aeronautic and Space Administration NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation RADA Royal Academy of Dramatic Art RADAR Radio Detection And Ranging SCUBA Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus SONAR Sound Navigation And Ranging UCAS Universities Colleges Admissions Service AGM Annual General Meeting BBC British Broadcasting Corporation CPS Crown Prosecution Service GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education MP Member of Parliament MEP Member of the European Parliament RAF Royal Air Force LOOKING AT ACRONYMS