Grammar/spelling/punctuation question

[DrTre]

"If you have ever used a SOP and noticed it is wrong..."

or

"If you have ever used an SOP and noticed it is wrong..."

Which is correct?

Are they different in written and spoken English? To me, the latter is correct when spoken, ie the acronym SOP effectively begins with an E, and so reads correctly too.

I'm no doubt wrong.

Edited by DrTre on Tuesday 24th March 15:00

[hondafanatic]

I think i need to go to specsavers. The first and second instance both read the same to me.

Edit: Ok, now they read differently.

Edited by hondafanatic on Tuesday 24th March 15:04

[hugo a gogo]

second one is correct

other example of the opposite way that initialisations take an or a - have you ever seen a UFO?

Edited by hugo a gogo on Tuesday 24th March 15:04

[esselte]

DrTre said:

"If you have ever used a SOP and noticed it is wrong..."

or

"If you have ever used an SOP and noticed it is wrong..."

Which is correct?

Are they different in written and spoken English? To me, the latter is correct when spoken, ie the acronym SOP effectively begins with an E, and so reads correctly too.

I'm no doubt wrong.

Edited by DrTre on Tuesday 24th March 15:00

Depends how you say "SOP" if it's "ess oh pee" then it's "an" if it's "sop" ( as a word) then it's "a" in my opinion anyway...

[Eric Mc]

Why not drop the acronym "SOP" and replace it with the proper words?

[DrTre]

esselte said:

Depends how you say "SOP" if it's "ess oh pee" then it's "an" if it's "sop" ( as a word) then it's "a" in my opinion anyway...

Sorry, yep, I meant "ess oh pee", I just hadn't punctuated it correctly.

So you do take the "an" or "a" from the sound of the first syllable of the first letter for acronyms, like you say, in UFO, it's a "Y" so is an "a".

The bloody Times got it wrong the other day then on their front page...

Cheers all

ETA Eric, it's SOP to write SOP...

[esselte]

DrTre said:

esselte said:

Depends how you say "SOP" if it's "ess oh pee" then it's "an" if it's "sop" ( as a word) then it's "a" in my opinion anyway...

Sorry, yep, I meant "ess oh pee", I just hadn't punctuated it correctly.

So you do take the "an" or "a" from the sound of the first syllable of the first letter for acronyms, like you say, in UFO, it's a "Y" so is an "a".

The bloody Times got it wrong the other day then on their front page...

Cheers all

ETA Eric, it's SOP to write SOP...

Is that Standard Operating Procedure?

[DrTre]

esselte said:

Is that Standard Operating Procedure?

Yeah, it was just an example, albeit one I've just noticed on a poster here at work, it was The Times one that really got my urine superheated (not really, was just a bit taken aback that such an organ would be so slack, oo-er missus)

[Eric Mc]

Acronyms are the bane of modern life. They should only be used when you are clear that your intended audience or readers are going to know and understand what they mean.

[DrTre]

Eric Mc said:

Acronyms are the bane of modern life. They should only be used when you are clear that your intended audience or readers are going to know and understand what they mean.

The audience in this instance are all too aware of its meaning and happily ignore all SOPs in the QMS because the entire thing is such an interminable PITA.

[hugo a gogo]

I usually think of acronyms as being 'words' like NATO, scuba and radar, whereas SOP, BBC, BMW etc are initialisations

that's just me though, IYKWIM

the aren't just modern though, think of all those crucifixes with 'INRI' on them

Edited by hugo a gogo on Tuesday 24th March 15:34

[Steve McQueen]

Is your QMS ISO standard based?
SOP's as L2 docs?
Just remember PDCA, get them at an IA.

[mas99]

I can't help thinking that I would prefer:

'...noticed that it is wrong...'

(Actually I'd rather see incorrect or inaccurate or similar but I'll stick to one complaint per post).