RULE XVI - SHORT-FORM WORDS

47.Short-form words should be used alone or as part of a word. (See §47.d.) Ex:

accordingly	acly	afterwards	afws
besides	2ss	undeceived	undcvd
firstly	f/ly	belittled	2lld

• Short-form words must not be divided at the end of a line, but they may be separated from any syllable addition. Ex:

  immediately		imm-	(not im-
  	ly		mly)
  perceive	p]cv	(not per-
  		cv)
  misconceive	mis-	(not miscon-
  	3cv	cv)

• A short-form word should be used as the whole proper name only. Ex:

  Louis Braille	,l\is   ,brl
  Thomas Little	,?omas    ,ll
  Hapgood	,hapgood     (not Hapgd)
  Doolittle	,doolittle   (not Dooll)

   Note:Short-form words which are common words are not to be considered as proper names when they appear in names of books, articles, chapter headings, publishers' names, etc. Ex:

   Society of Friends     ,society     (    ,frs

   Childrens Press     ,*ns   ,press

     MY FRIENDLY ENEMY

     ,,my ,,frly    ,,5emy

•  An addition may be made to a short-form word provided it does not result in incorrect spelling. Ex:

     declaration    decl>,n     (not dclation)

   

• An addition may be made to a short-form word only if it retains its original meaning and would not obscure recognition of the word. Ex:

   mustn't   m/n't    (but not in mustache)     mu/a*e

    aftermath  afma?    (but not in rafter)    raft]

   letterpress   lrpress

       (but not in bloodletter, a bleeder) bloodlett]

   

• An addition may be made to a short-form word provided the combination does not violate lower-sign rules. (See §43.) Ex:

    preconceive  preconceive

    pre-                  pre-

    conceive     3cv

   

• An addition may be made to a short-form word provided the combination could not be mistaken for, or have the appearance of, another word. The short-form words for "after," "blind," or "friend" should not be used when followed by a vowel. However, they may be used when followed by a consonant, or a hyphen in a divided word. Ex:

  Used		Not Used
  blindfold	blfold	blinder	bl9d]
  blindness	bl;s	blindage	bl9dage
  purblind	purbl	blinded	bl9d$
  		blindest	bl9de/
  friendly	frly	befriended	2fri5d$
  friendship	fr%ip
  friends	frs
  befriend-	2fr-
  ing.	+4
  afterbirth	afbir?	aftereffect	aft]e6ect
  thereafter	"!af	afterimage	aft]image
  after-	af-
  effect	e6ect

   

• A short-form word must not be used if it would cause confusion in pronunciation or in the recognition of an unusual word. Ex:

    Stirabout is a porridge.

    ,/irab\t is a porridge4

    Port Said      (not Sd) ,port ,said

• The apostrophe should always be inserted in the exclamation "h'm!" (hm!) to distinguish it from the short-form word for "him" (hm). However, the apostrophe should not be inserted when two or more letter "m's" are used in the exclamation. Ex:

    Hm!   ,h'm6

    Hmmm!  ,hmmm6

• When proper names such as "Al" or "Ab" appear at the beginning of a sentence, they should be preceded by the letter sign to distinguish them from the short-form words for "also" or "about." Ex:

    Ag, I said that!

    ;,ag1 ,i sd t6