TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Correct usage "i.e." and "e.g." ? From:Janice Gelb <janiceg -at- MARVIN -dot- ENG -dot- SUN -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 7 May 1998 13:09:56 -0700
Chris (cwhutchings -at- homewireless -dot- com) wrote:
>
> David Klein asks:
>
> Is "and so on" generally considered acceptable??
>
> Not to me. While "i.e." and "e.g." seem to be falling from general usage
> these days, "etc." is still widely used, and I plan to stick with it!
>
We don't allow any Latin abbreviations in our documentation,
including etc.. Even if we didn't have the general rule because
many people are unfamiliar with their meanings (as other people
have mentioned in this thread), we probably would disallow etc.
because of the punctuation problem in the first sentence of my
response! We recommend that writers use "and the like" or "and
so on," depending on the context.
********************************************************************************
Janice Gelb | The only connection Sun has with this
janice -dot- gelb -at- eng -dot- sun -dot- com | message is the return address. http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8018/index.html
********************************************************************************