to Remember
'Ion
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•• abbreviations use the first letters of words to be remembered. The difference be5 and abbreviations is that you do not have to be able to pronounce an abbreviaD simply recite the letters in order. Small words for, the, and a should be left out
tan abbreviation.
!, the National Football League can be remembered as the abbreviation NFL,
Is for National, F stands for Football, and L stands for League. You only have so
pour memory. Three letters take up far less room than three words. Imagine how
• will save in your memory if you use many abbreviations. You can use the room
•ember other important information,
aommonly used abbreviation for each of the following:
d Broadcasting Company
± of Columbia
artified flying object
i Revenue Service
of Dental Surgery
it these common abbreviations stand for:
':
• see if you can form abbreviations for information you might find in your social studies
• textbooks. For example, you can use the abbreviation UCM to stand for uniform cirbr Motion. Of course, you will still need to know that uniform circular motion refers to motion
tstant speed around a circle.
e an abbreviation for each of the following:
lonfederate States of America
Periodic Table of the Elements
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Copyright © 1997 by Allyn and Bacon
U&ing Acronymic Sentences to
Remember Information
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Acronymic sentences are useful when you have to remember information for which you cannot
form an acronym. You can form an acronymic sentence by using words that begin with the first
letters of the items you wish to remember. For example, you can remember the order of the planets in our solar system according to their position from the sun by using the acronymic sentence
"My (Mercury) very (Venus) earthy (Earth) mother (Mars) just (Jupiter) served (Saturn) us
(Uranus) nine (Neptune) gizzas (Pluto)."
Create acronymic sentences for the information that follows. In some cases you will have to remember the information in order. In other cases you can rearrange the information to make it easier to create an acronymic sentence.
1. The first four hydrocarbons of the alkaline class: methane, ethane, propane, butane
2. The countries that make up Central America: Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa
Rica, Panama, El Salvador, Belize
3. Five major rivers found in the United States: Pearl, Cumberland, Hudson, Platte, Rio
Grande
4. Substances obtained from petroleum: gasoline, kerosene, lubricants, paraffins, asphalt
5. The first five presidents of the United States: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe
6. Geologic time periods in order from oldest to most recent: Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic
Copyright © 1997 by Allyn and Bacon
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