Misusing these two abbreviations is one of the top five mistakes I
used to see when editing technical documents. There's so much
confusion that in some of the drafts I got back from clients they had actually
crossed out the right abbreviation and replaced it with the wrong one. I just
had to laugh.
What Do I.e. and E.g.
Mean?
I.e. and e.g. are both
abbreviations for Latin terms. I.e. stands for id est and means
roughly "that is." E.g. stands for exempli gratia,
which means “for example.” "Great. Latin," you're probably thinking.
"How am I supposed to remember that?”
How to Remember the Difference
Between I.e. and E.g.
But by now, I'm sure you know that
I'm not going to ask you to remember Latin. I'm going to give you a memory
trick. So here's how I remember the difference. Forget about i.e.
standing for "that is" or whatever it really means in Latin. From now
on, i.e., which starts with i, means “in other words,” and e.g.,
which starts with e, means “for example.” I = in other words. E=
example.
A few listeners have also written in
to say that they remember the difference between i.e. and e.g. by
imagining that i.e. means “in essence,” and e.g. sounds like “egg
sample,” and those are good memory tricks too.
So now that you have a few tricks
for remembering what the abbreviations mean, let's think about how to use them
in a sentence.
E.g. means “for example,” so you use it
to introduce an example: I like card games, e.g., bridge and crazy eights.
Because I used e.g., you know that I have provided a list of examples of
card games that I like. It's not a finite list of all card games I like; it's
just a few examples.
On the other hand, i.e. means
“in other words,” so you use it to introduce a further clarification: I like to
play cards, i.e., bridge and crazy eights. Because I used i.e., which
introduces a clarification, you know that these are the only card games that I
enjoy.
Here are two more examples:
Squiggly loves watching old cartoons
(e.g., DuckTales and Tugboat Mickey). The words following e.g. are
examples, so you know that these are just some of the old cartoons that
Squiggly enjoys.
Squiggly loves watching Donald
Duck's nephews (i.e., Huey, Dewey, and Louie). The words following i.e.
provide clarification: they tell you the names of Donald Duck's three nephews.
An important point is that if I've
failed, and you're still confused about when to use each abbreviation, you can always just write out the
words "for example" or "in other words." There's no rule
that says you have to use the abbreviations.
Dos and Don'ts
Don't italicize i.e. and e.g.; even
though they are abbreviations for Latin words, they've been used
for so long that they're considered a standard part of the English language.
Also, remember that they are abbreviations, so there is always a period after
each letter.
Also, I always put a comma after i.e. and e.g. I've
noticed that my spell checker always freaks out and wants me to remove the
comma, but five out of six style guides recommend the comma. Seriously. I
got so engrossed in the question of whether a comma is required after i.e. and
e.g. that I made a table for the website summarizing the opinions
of six different style guides.
Nevertheless, even though I prefer
the comma and have sources to back me up, they almost all use hedge words like “usually” and “preferred.” I've
also been told that the commas are used less frequently in Britain, and the
only style guide I found that advised against commas was Fowler's Modern English Usage, which has its
roots in British English. The bottom line is that in American English, I
recommend using a comma after i.e. and e.g. You could probably make an argument for
leaving it out in some cases, but do so at your own risk. My personal rule is
to use a comma every time.
Finally, I tend to reserve i.e. and e.g.
to introduce parenthetical statements, but it's also perfectly
fine to use i.e. and e.g. in other ways. You can put a comma before
them, or if you use them to introduce a complete sentence that follows after another
complete sentence, you can put a semicolon before them. You can even put an em dash before i.e.
and e.g. if you are using them to
introduce something dramatic. They're just abbreviations for words, so you can
use them in any way you'd use the words in essence or for example.
Download my audiobook, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips
to Clean Up Your Writing. The book is available at iTunes and Audible.com.
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