“eg” means “example”, which is phonetically similar to “eg-zample”. “ie” means “in other words”: both have an initial “i”. One Response to “Two Latin abbreviations that confuse us: namely, i.e. I think I will go out on a limb here and say that if you are writing for most people - not people who are used to reading Latin phrases - you should avoid i.e. The defense focused on evidence not found at the scene, e.g., the defendant’s fingerprints, bloody footprints leading away from the scene, signs of force entry. when introducing a non-exhaustive list of examples and. It could be replaced by the phrase “for example.” is another Latin abbreviation that means in other words, namely, or which is to say. stands for the Latin exempli gratia, meaning “for example,” and it precedes examples. The prosecution introduced its strongest piece of evidence, i.e., the knife found at the scene. with something that makes it clear what you are writing about. Garner in “Garner’s American Usage” says that you can usually substitute “namely,” a word that is more easily understood. stands for the Latin id est, meaning “that is,” and it is used before explanatory words. and e.g., and I sometimes run across uses I must puzzle over. Now, I work for publications that do use i.e. We never let these abbreviations into print. something I never had to worry about when I worked for daily newspapers. Posted by Pam Nelson & filed under Uncategorized.Ī mildly profane tweet I saw recently took people to task for confusing i.e. Two Latin abbreviations that confuse us: namely, i.e.
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