Complete the 12 sentences below. Choose the best answer for each one.
1The judge refused to unseal ............... FBI affidavit until the informant’s safety had been assessed.
Wrong!
Use "an" before FBI because the initial letter F is pronounced with an initial vowel sound: /ef/.
2The archive was digitised under ............... UNESCO programme on endangered manuscripts.
Wrong!
Use "a" before UNESCO because it is normally pronounced as a word beginning with the consonant sound /j/ in you.
3The neurologist ordered ............... MRI scan to rule out a small vascular lesion.
Wrong!
Use "an" before MRI because M is pronounced /em/, which begins with a vowel sound.
4Diplomats spent the night drafting ............... NATO communique that all member states could endorse.
Wrong!
Use "a" before NATO when it is pronounced as a word beginning with the consonant sound /n/.
5The minister consulted several ............... before announcing the revised asylum policy.
Wrong!
For a simple plural of an initialism, use "NGOs"; the apostrophe form is possessive or nonstandard for this context.
6The five executives issued a joint memo, but the board dismissed the ............... objections as commercially unrealistic.
Wrong!
Use "CEOs'" because the subject is plural—several chief executives—and the possessive apostrophe follows the plural s.
7Dr Malik withdrew the ............... amendment after the committee accepted the minister’s compromise.
Wrong!
Use "MP's" because one named member is meant, and the singular initialism takes apostrophe-s before a noun it possesses.
8In the stricter terminology used by the journal, EU is an ............... rather than a word-like abbreviation.
Wrong!
"initialism" is correct because EU is pronounced as separate letters, not as a single word.
9Although many speakers no longer notice its origin, laser is historically an ............... formed from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Wrong!
"acronym" is correct because laser originated from initial letters but is pronounced as a word.
10The investigators compared the ship’s ............... data with satellite images from the same hour.
Wrong!
Use "radar" because fully lexicalised acronyms such as radar are normally written as ordinary lower-case words in general prose.
11The ombudsman drafted ............... FAQ page to address the most persistent misconceptions.
Wrong!
Use "an" because FAQ is read letter by letter and begins with the vowel sound /ef/.
12The curator insisted that all ............... images be labelled before the exhibition opened.
Wrong!
Use "AI-generated" when the initialism and participle form a compound modifier before the noun.
Answers
- The judge refused to unseal an FBI affidavit until the informant’s safety had been assessed.
- The archive was digitised under a UNESCO programme on endangered manuscripts.
- The neurologist ordered an MRI scan to rule out a small vascular lesion.
- Diplomats spent the night drafting a NATO communique that all member states could endorse.
- The minister consulted several NGOs before announcing the revised asylum policy.
- The five executives issued a joint memo, but the board dismissed the CEOs’ objections as commercially unrealistic.
- Dr Malik withdrew the MP’s amendment after the committee accepted the minister’s compromise.
- In the stricter terminology used by the journal, EU is an initialism rather than a word-like abbreviation.
- Although many speakers no longer notice its origin, laser is historically an acronym formed from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
- The investigators compared the ship’s radar data with satellite images from the same hour.
- The ombudsman drafted an FAQ page to address the most persistent misconceptions.
- The curator insisted that all AI-generated images be labelled before the exhibition opened.
