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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 15:25:51 -0700
Beverly Parks said:
>
> The confusion comes in knowing which one to use when (a writer
> responsibility), not in reading. I think most adult U.S. readers have
> some idea of what i.e. and e.g. mean in context. They may not know if
> the *correct* one was used, but it doesn't affect their comprehension.
>
True -- but why bother trying to figure it out from context? (And, if
the writer has used the incorrect one, the reader could get distracted
from the manual's content by doubting their own knowledge and maybe
going to look it up.) Isn't it clearer for everyone, writer and reader,
to say "that is" or "for example" directly rather than with a Latin
abbreviation?
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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
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