Breaking News English

A new study [ingests / suggests] that people who abbreviate their text messages might seem insincere. In [addition / additionally] , they might be less [likely / liked] to receive replies. Researchers from Stanford University in the USA and the University of Toronto in Canada analyzed 5,000 text messages to [gouge / gauge] the impact of abbreviations. Test participants had to rate their perceived [sincere / sincerity] of messages with and without abbreviations. They also [evaluated / valued] their likelihood [to / of] responding. The researchers said: "Abbreviations [mark / make] senders seem less sincere and recipients [less / lest] likely to write back." They added: "Abbreviations signal a lower level of [affront / effort] from the sender."

Abbreviations [on / in] text messages and social media comments have evolved into a [distant / distinct] genre of writing. The first text message was sent in 1992. Since [that / then] , a system of abbreviated text has developed that is largely [understanding / understood] and [widely / widening] used. Many abbreviations are now [at / in] dictionaries. Truncated terms like "fyi," "cul8r," and "imho" are commonplace [in / by] text messages. Of course, these [meant / mean] "for your information," "see you later," and "in my humble opinion". Researcher David Fang said: "We thought texters might like abbreviations because they would convey an informal [sense / scent] of closeness, so we were surprised that abbreviations [eluded / elicited] negative perceptions about people who use them."