These are signs representing words and wordgroups of high frequency of occurrence in written speech: scientific books, articles, advertisements, letters, etc.
Letters:
St - Street; Rd - Road; c/o - care of; Mr., Mrs., Dr., i.e.; P.S.; P.P.S.
Scientific books, dictionaries:
ï., v., a., adv., prep., e.g., usu.; cf. - compare; L., &, Fr., p.m., p., pp., par - paragraph; f. - following; P.t.o.; ib., op., cit, etc.
Advertisements, announcements:
Jan., Feb., Apr., Sept., Oct., Nov., d - penny, L - denarius; oz - ounce (28,3 gm); in - inch (2,54 cm); sec. - second; gm - gramme; cm - centimetre; ft- foot (0,35m); Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri., Sat.; L.P.- Long Playing; Tel.; a.o.b. - any other business; B.L.W. - black and white (film); m.p.h. - miles per hour.
English graphical abbreviations include rather numerous shortened variants of Latin and French words and word-groups,
e.g., a.m. (L. ante meridiem) - in the morning;
p.m. (L. post meridiem) - in the afternoon;
i.e. (L. id est) - that is;
a.d. (L. Anno Domini) - of our era;
B.C. (L. Before Christ) - of the past era;
ib. (L. ibidem) - in the same place;
b.f. (Fr. bona fide) - sincerely;
e.g. (L. exempli gratia), etc.
Latin abbreviations are usually read as their English equivalents.
Ways of formation of graphical abbreviations:
- initial shortening: a.m.; P.t.o.;
- syllable shortening: Oct.
In reading many of them are substituted by the words and phrases that they represent: Dr. - Doctor; Nov. - November; govt. - government.