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US vs. U.S.: When To Use Periods And When To Leave Them Out
Gregg Reference Manual states: “The name United States is usually abbreviated when it is part of the name of a government agency. When used as an adjective, the name is often abbreviated, though not in formal usage. When used as a noun, the name is spelled out.”
In other words, in general prose, one should use U.S. when abbreviating.
Of all the holidays we celebrate in the U.S., we especially look forward to Independence Day for the fireworks!
However, there are some exceptions:
U.S. Department of Agriculture or USDA
U.S. Air Force or USAF
NOTE: When a company uses a geographic abbreviation in its corporate name or in the name of a product, respect the company’s style.
U.S.A., but USA Today
U.S., but U S WEST Communications
We hope this helps you feel more confident in the accuracy of your writing, but if you still feel fuzzy about the rules, whether it’s US vs. U.S. or other elements of style, Writer’s Relief can help! Expert proofreading is just one of the many helpful parts of our service!
No, it does not.
What about admin. does it need a period?
Hi Bob,
In that case, you can drop the period before the colon, so it would be U.S:
Hope this helps!
How about at the end of a subtitle just prior to a colon, for example
History of Inheritance in the US: blah blah
or
History of Inheritance in the U.S.: blah blah
Without periods looks better. Is it acceptable? (Especially in an article that otherwise uses periods as at americanrtl.org/contstitution.)
Hi Joe,
It would be U.S. at the end of a sentence.
What about U.S.. or U.S. at the end of a sentence?
We’ve seen it spelled both ways. Either way is fine.
Yeah, so is it “I’m from the USA.” or is it “I’m from the U.S.A.”?
Hi Pamela,
It is US’s biggest.
Is it US’s biggest or US’ biggest?
We’ve seen it spelled POW, P.O.W., and PoW. It can be spelled any of the three ways.
What about P.O.W. and POW? Or is it PoW? I have seen it many different ways.
U.S. but it’s fine either way. I believe they recently changed it to RSVP, yet I may be wrong.
USA. Or U.S.A.
Hi Michelle,
Both R.S.V.P. and RSVP are technically correct. However, it has recently become more commonplace to use RSVP without the periods.
any thoughts on R.S.V.P. vs. RSVP?