[Grammar] GB comprises England, Scotland and Wales.
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Odessa Dawn
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Thank you, HanibalII, so very much. In The Free Dictionary GB stands for Great Britain. Shouldn’t we use the abbreviation GB for Great Britain?
HanibalII
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It's working on the assumption the reader knows what 'GB' stands for and in truth, I have never seen 'GB' used for 'Great Britain'.
I think if you're referring to any country/collective of countries, you should use the full name. But that's just my personal opinion based on what I was taught in school.
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GB isn't used as often as UK, but it's certainly used a lot. I'm very surprised that you say you've never seen it, HannibalII. If you watched any of the London Olympics you will have seen GB used throughout. Our Olympic team were called "Team GB". It's also the abbreviation that we put on the stickers on the back of our cars when driving abroad to show where the car is from.
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I agree with all of you; at least in part. Here's my tuppence worth.
First, I agree with HannibalII's first response that, in the particular circumstances of the question, "Great Britain" should have been used. I say that because all the individual countries were named in full, so the collective term for them should also have been named in full.
In other circumstances, I agree with Odessa Dawn and Tdol that it's perfectly fine to use the abbreviation "GB" - so long as the context is appropriate, and only these 3 countries are included. Unlike HannibalII, I do see "GB" used, but all too often incorrectly when the context includes Northern Ireland. In these circumstances, the term "UK" should be used. Because the "United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" is such a mouthful, it is almost never quoted in full, and "UK" is used almost exclusively.
First, I agree with HannibalII's first response that, in the particular circumstances of the question, "Great Britain" should have been used. I say that because all the individual countries were named in full, so the collective term for them should also have been named in full.
In other circumstances, I agree with Odessa Dawn and Tdol that it's perfectly fine to use the abbreviation "GB" - so long as the context is appropriate, and only these 3 countries are included. Unlike HannibalII, I do see "GB" used, but all too often incorrectly when the context includes Northern Ireland. In these circumstances, the term "UK" should be used. Because the "United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" is such a mouthful, it is almost never quoted in full, and "UK" is used almost exclusively.
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