A List of Common English Abbreviations

Letters and correspondence
a.s.a.p²	as soon as possible	p.p.	per pro (through the agency of)
Attn.	For the attention of	ps	postscript
c.c.	copies to (carbon copies)	PTO	please turn over
cf.	compare	re	in the mater of
e.g.	exempli gratia (for example)	p	page
enc./encl.	enclosure	ref.	reference
f.o.a.	for the attention of	RSVP	please reply
fyi	for your information	u/m	undermentioned
hdbk	handbook	w. ref.	with reference to
i.e.	id est (that is)	x ref.	cross reference
inc.	including	Yrs.	Yours (sincerely/faithfully …)
n/a	not applicable to	NB	note well
In the office
admin.	administration	h.q.	Headquarters
AGM	Annual General Meeting	kbd	keyboard
CEO	Chief Executive Officer	Man.Dir.	Managing Director
a.o.b.	any other business	plc	public limited company
assoc.	association	pt-tm	part time
CV	curriculum vitae	R&D	Research and Development
dept.	department	rep.	Representative
Dr	Doctor/Director	swbd	switchboard
est.	established	VDU	visual display unit
exec.	executive	WP	word processor
ext.	extension (phone number)	Xer.	Xerox™
hdw	hardware (computer)	HoD	Head of Department
Finance and banking
a/c	current account	f.o.t.	free of tax
a/cs pay	accounts payable	GDP	Gross Domestic Product
a/cs rec	accounts receivable	n/c	no charge
bf	brought forward	o/d	overdraft
b.o.m.	bill of materials (goods)	o.n.o.	or nearest offer
B/P	bills payable	qr.	Quarterly (accounts)
B/S	bill of sale	S/R	sale or return (goods)
cf	carried forward	stat.	Statistics
c.o.d.	cash on delivery	t.b.a.	to be arranged
D/a	deposit account	T/O	turnover
fin	finance/financial	VAT	Value Added Tax
f.o.c.	free of charge	xs	expenses
Deliveries
C&E	Customs & Excise	mdse	merchandise
C/O	Certificate of Origin	p&p	postage and packing
d/o	delivery order	p.p.i.	parcel post insured
ETA	estimate time of arrival	gtd	guaranteed
ToD	Time of delivery	JO	Job Order

(²NOTE: There are some variations regarding full stops. For example, you will see both a.s.a.p. and asap.)

English punctuation
	.	full stop (UK), period (US), dot in computer language “dot.com”
	,	comma
	:	colon
	;	semi-colon
	“ ”	quotation marks
	‘ ’	single quotes
	!	exclamation mark
	?	question mark
	@	ampersand, at in computer language
	*	asterisk
	~	tilde
	Ÿ	bullet
	/	slash
	–	dash
	§	paragraph sign
	( )	brackets
	{ }	curved brackets
	[ ]	square brackets
	...	ellipsis
	ä,ö,ü	umlaut = (vowel) mutation