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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009abbreviation for "chapters"
"ch." is fine for the singular. But how about the plural? "chh."? or "chs."? The only reason why I would even remotely consider the possibility of the first option is by analogy with the plural abbreviation for pages, "pp," although "chs." does look more normal. > "ch." is fine for the singular. But how about the plural? "chh."? or > "chs."? The only reason why I would even remotely consider the > possibility of the first option is by analogy with the plural > abbreviation for pages, "pp," although "chs." does look more normal. Frankly, I wouldn't abbreviate "chapters" at all. But if you must, use "chs." Nowadays, very few realize that "pp." is an abbreviation for "pages," and that "cc." is an abbreviation for "copies." Doubling a single- letter abbreviation (or the final letter of a two- or three-letter abbreviation) is the old way of doing it, and the usual way to abbreviate "page" is "pg." The abbreviation of the plural is "pgs." (Everyone thinks "cc." means "carbon copy/ies." Cece added: > (Everyone thinks "cc." means "carbon copy/ies." Yeah, especially M-W Online, AHD4, CALD, and Random House Unabridged Dictionary.  SignatureSkitt (AmE) Cece filted: >Nowadays, very few realize that "pp." is an abbreviation for "pages," >and that "cc." is an abbreviation for "copies." Doubling a single- >letter abbreviation (or the final letter of a two- or three-letter >abbreviation) is the old way of doing it, and the usual way to >abbreviate "page" is "pg." The abbreviation of the plural is >"pgs." (Everyone thinks "cc." means "carbon copy/ies." Unless they're too young to remember carbon paper, and were taught that it stands for "courtesy copy".... An extension of the old "pp. for pages" took a little longer to explain: remember "p.35 ff" for "beginning on page 35 and continuing onto two or more following pages"?... I love explaining the "Hecho en EE.UU." label on some binational food products....r Signature"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!" "You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!" > Cece filted: >> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > I love explaining the "Hecho en EE.UU." label on some binational food > products....r While reading this thread, it occurred to me (couldn't post the "ff" once I got to your post), that I once knew the plural of "ms". Was it "mms" or "mss"? And "bbl". . .wasn't that singular? If by "ms" you mean "manuscript," then that plural is "mss." > While reading this thread, it occurred to me (couldn't post the "ff" > once I got to your post), that I once knew the plural of "ms". Was it > "mms" or "mss"? And "bbl". . .wasn't that singular? > Everyone thinks "cc." means "carbon copy/ies." If it doesn't mean that, then what does "bcc" stand for? SignatureJohn Varela Trade OLD lamps for NEW for email >> Everyone thinks "cc." means "carbon copy/ies." > > If it doesn't mean that, then what does "bcc" stand for? What? You never heard of "blind courtesy"? (Me neither.) SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. > "ch." is fine for the singular. But how about the plural? "chh."? or > "chs."? The only reason why I would even remotely consider the > possibility of the first option is by analogy with the plural > abbreviation for pages, "pp," although "chs." does look more normal. This is an ancient point of printing style that none of us needs to grasp and evaluate from scratch. 1. If we are publishing in an existing periodical or through a book publishing house, we should follow the house style for abbreviations. We may be obligated to conform to house style. 2. If we are publishing ourselves, we may use whatever abbreviations we prefer. No special justification is needed. Third parties may have opinions, and may express them freely, but these opinions do not coerce the writer's considered opinion. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) >This is an ancient point of printing style that none of us needs >to grasp and evaluate from scratch. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >Third parties may have opinions, and may express them freely, >but these opinions do not coerce the writer's considered opinion. You know, you keep on repeating the same advice over and over again, and I'm unconvinced that it's particularly helpful to anyone, least of all the ESLers who so often pose these questions. -GAWollman SignatureGarrett A. Wollman | The real tragedy of human existence is not that we are wollman@csail.mit.edu| nasty by nature, but that a cruel structural asymmetry Opinions not those | grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape of MIT or CSAIL. | our history. - S.J. Gould, Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness > You know, you keep on repeating the same advice over and over again, > and I'm unconvinced that it's particularly helpful to anyone, least of > all the ESLers who so often pose these questions. Well this is much better than being convinced the same advice fails to answer the questions people actually ask. If an answer were actually unhelpful, we could not know unless the OP said so when asking again. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > This is an ancient point of printing style that none of us needs > to grasp and evaluate from scratch. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Carlsbad Springs > (Ottawa, Canada) I don't think its that black and white. For instance, if I'm going to pass out a worksheet in a presentation to colleagues at work, Random House won't be publishing the handout, but I still don't want to use abbreviations that won't be understood, so I come here. If the literati here can tell me that they have seen "chh." as the abbreviation for chapters all the time, that counts for something. I came in here asking for opinions and answers, so I'd rather not insult someone by telling them that their post is unhelpful. Others, of course, are free to hold their own opinion. :) >literati here can tell me that they have seen "chh." as the >abbreviation for chapters all the time, that counts for something. Never seen it ever (which doesn't mean that it's completely unattested). My intuition is that the letter-doubling thing is only used for Latin-derived abbreviations, which "ch." is not. I personally don't see any need for a different abbreviation for multiple chapters, but if you feel differently, "chs." would be the obvious choice, by analogy with "pt." and "pts." or "bk." and "bks." (all of which seem utterly pointless to me, but are widely attested and probably required in some reference styles). >I came in here asking for opinions and answers, so I'd rather not >insult someone by telling them that their post is unhelpful. Others, >of course, are free to hold their own opinion. :) When one poster always answers every question of style the same way, it can get tiresome, particularly when that poster does not actually supply any direct information about the usage being queried. Publishers can take care of their own style guides -- that's what they employ line editors for[1] -- but the vast majority of written English today is self-published. It is a legitimate question to ask a group of putative experts (or at least opinionated people) what their preferences are; presumably that's why people ask questions here rather than asking their (mainly non-existent) editors. -GAWollman [1] Academic publishing being a major exception, where publishers often expect authors to submit camera-ready copy and little or no copyediting is done by the publisher. My understanding of editorial work at commercial publishers is that they generally tell authors who ask about minor style questions, "That's our job." SignatureGarrett A. Wollman | The real tragedy of human existence is not that we are wollman@csail.mit.edu| nasty by nature, but that a cruel structural asymmetry Opinions not those | grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape of MIT or CSAIL. | our history. - S.J. Gould, Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness >> This is an ancient point of printing style that none of us needs >> to grasp and evaluate from scratch. [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >insult someone by telling them that their post is unhelpful. Others, >of course, are free to hold their own opinion. :) The most important thing is that the readers should be able to understand what you have written. The most common abbreviations for chapter seem to be "ch." and "chap." I suggest that whichever abbreviation you decide to use it should be defined in the conventional way the first time it is used: ...in chapter 3 (ch.3)... ...in chapters 4 to 6 (chs.4-6)... ...in chapters 1 and 12 to 15 (chs.1,12-15)... After that the abbreviation can be used. If you use standard pluralisation by adding an "s" (chs. or chaps.) then there is no real need to specifically define the plural form. If for some reason you choose to use an unusual form such as "chch" for chapters then you should certainly define it!: ...in chapters 4 to 6 (chch.4-6)... SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) > For instance, if I'm going to > pass out a worksheet in a presentation to colleagues at work, Random > House won't be publishing the handout, but I still don't want to use > abbreviations that won't be understood, so I come here. It is hard to believe AUE is faster than poking your head round the corner to ask the nearest colleague. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > It is hard to believe AUE is faster than poking your head round > the corner to ask the nearest colleague. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Carlsbad Springs > (Ottawa, Canada) It is hard to believe that typing your previous post was faster than simply wondering if perhaps I'm not at work right now. Now I'm beginning to see where Garrett was coming from.... |
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