{"id":7152,"date":"2019-09-18T12:30:22","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T16:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/?p=7152"},"modified":"2021-04-01T19:57:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T19:57:23","slug":"how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose Between I.E. and E.G."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Here&#8217;s a common question scientific writers ask themselves: &#8220;Is it i.e. or e.g.?&#8221; I&#8217;ve thought that same thing countless times. These two Latin abbreviations pop up all over the place, and they stand for <em>exempli gratia<\/em> (e.g.) and <em>id est<\/em> (i.e.). For those of you who aren\u2019t fluent in dead languages (I&#8217;m right there with you), the translations are \u201cfor example\u201d and \u201cthat is.\u201d So if you\u2019re introducing a list or giving some possible examples, use e.g. If you\u2019re clarifying something or giving a definition, i.e. is what you want. How can we easily remember this difference?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Before I hammered the difference into my brain (figuratively), I remembered that e.g. starts with e, and so does \u201cexamples.\u201d Mnemonics are everyone\u2019s friend\u2014choose what works for you!<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-medium-font-size has-very-light-gray-background-color\" style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Studying for my upcoming exam (<span style=\"color: #339966\">i.e.,<\/span> the family medicine ITE) is taking up a lot of my free time.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background has-medium-font-size has-very-light-gray-background-color\" style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Studying for my upcoming exam (<span style=\"color: #ff0000\">e.g.,<\/span> the family medicine ITE) is taking up a lot of my free time.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<p>In this example, I&#8217;m talking about my one upcoming exam. The appropriate abbreviation here would be the one that stands for &#8220;that is&#8221;: i.e. I&#8217;m not giving examples of multiple exams here, so e.g. would be incorrect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Selecting e.g. or i.e. can also change your sentence&#8217;s meaning. Here&#8217;s how:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-medium-font-size has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><strong>While studying for the internal medicine ITE, I took notes on the nonspecific clinical manifestations of cirrhosis (<span style=\"color: #339966\">e.g.,<\/span> anorexia, weight loss, fatigue).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>The insinuation here is that anorexia, weight loss, and fatigue are&nbsp;some <span style=\"color: #339966\"><strong>examples<\/strong><\/span> of nonspecific clinical manifestations of cirrhosis. If anorexia, weight loss, and fatigue are the <strong>only<\/strong> nonspecific clinical manifestations of cirrhosis, i.e. would be correct.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-medium-font-size has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><strong>While studying for the internal medicine ITE, I took notes on the nonspecific clinical manifestations of cirrhosis (<span style=\"color: #ff6600\">i.e.,<\/span> anorexia, weight loss, fatigue).<br><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember, this sentence is now saying &#8220;&#8230;<span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>that is<\/strong><\/span>, anorexia, weight loss, fatigue.&#8221; This subtle difference changes the sentence&#8217;s meaning by indicating that there are only three nonspecific clinical manifestations of cirrhosis rather than more than three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, every style guide has its own preference for whether periods are included (is it eg or e.g.?) and whether to use a comma afterward. At Rosh Review, we like both the periods and the comma, which is the preferred style of many style guides. If you&#8217;re not following any specific style guide while you write, just make sure you choose a format and stay consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are Laura&#8217;s most recent lessons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesson 5: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"How to Easily Remember Affect vs Effect (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/lauras-lessons\/how-to-easily-remember-affect-vs-effect\/\" target=\"_blank\">How to Easily Remember Affect vs Effect<\/a><br>Lesson 4: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/lauras-lessons\/when-not-to-use-a-colon\/\" target=\"_blank\">When Not to Use a Colon<\/a><br>Lesson 3: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/lauras-lessons\/how-and-why-to-use-semicolons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">How (and Why) to Use Semicolons<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a common question scientific writers ask themselves: &#8220;Is it i.e. or e.g.?&#8221; I&#8217;ve thought that same thing countless times. These two Latin abbreviations pop up all over the place, and they stand for exempli gratia (e.g.) and id est (i.e.). For those of you who aren\u2019t fluent in dead languages (I&#8217;m right there with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/\">read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":11203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1996,1998],"tags":[2735],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-7152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogtype","category-lauras-lessons","tag-grammar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Choose Between I.E. and E.G. - RoshReview.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Grammar rules you take for granted. Learn in a minute what you should&#039;ve learned in third grade.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Choose Between i.e. and e.g.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Grammar rules you take for granted. Learn in a minute what you should&#039;ve learned in third grade.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RoshReview.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-18T16:30:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-01T19:57:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x630.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Wilkinson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"How to Choose Between i.e. and e.g.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Grammar rules you take for granted. Learn in a minute what you should&#039;ve learned in third grade.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1012x506.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Wilkinson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/\",\"name\":\"How to Choose Between I.E. and E.G. - RoshReview.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x600.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-18T16:30:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-01T19:57:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0f1ec6aa772888953e299be73336f0a2\"},\"description\":\"Grammar rules you take for granted. Learn in a minute what you should've learned in third grade.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x600.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x600.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Laura's Lessons\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Choose Between I.E. and E.G.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"RoshReview.com\",\"description\":\"Free Powerful Rosh Content - Find content that fits you\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0f1ec6aa772888953e299be73336f0a2\",\"name\":\"Laura Wilkinson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/29a4384340c2ee6fc32f154c32556c65\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d440cca763e9d5807cd21f93308ffdfbbef44af0f16f38e9b8690d34c677a835?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d440cca763e9d5807cd21f93308ffdfbbef44af0f16f38e9b8690d34c677a835?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laura Wilkinson\"},\"description\":\"Laura is a copyeditor and writer with Rosh Review\/Blueprint Test Prep. She has a background in science and science communication (BS in Zoology, MS in Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology, and Certificate for the Professional Sequence in Editing). She's passionate about making difficult concepts easy to understand. Outside of work, she loves to cook, bake, hike, and chase her kiddos around.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lauracwilkinson\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/author\/lwilkinson-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Choose Between I.E. and E.G. - RoshReview.com","description":"Grammar rules you take for granted. Learn in a minute what you should've learned in third grade.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Choose Between i.e. and e.g.","og_description":"Grammar rules you take for granted. Learn in a minute what you should've learned in third grade.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/","og_site_name":"RoshReview.com","article_published_time":"2019-09-18T16:30:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-01T19:57:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x630.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Laura Wilkinson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"How to Choose Between i.e. and e.g.","twitter_description":"Grammar rules you take for granted. Learn in a minute what you should've learned in third grade.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1012x506.png","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laura Wilkinson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/","url":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/","name":"How to Choose Between I.E. and E.G. - RoshReview.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x600.png","datePublished":"2019-09-18T16:30:22+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-01T19:57:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0f1ec6aa772888953e299be73336f0a2"},"description":"Grammar rules you take for granted. Learn in a minute what you should've learned in third grade.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x600.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x600.png","width":1200,"height":600,"caption":"Laura's Lessons"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-i-e-and-e-g\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Choose Between I.E. and E.G."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/","name":"RoshReview.com","description":"Free Powerful Rosh Content - Find content that fits you","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0f1ec6aa772888953e299be73336f0a2","name":"Laura Wilkinson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/29a4384340c2ee6fc32f154c32556c65","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d440cca763e9d5807cd21f93308ffdfbbef44af0f16f38e9b8690d34c677a835?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d440cca763e9d5807cd21f93308ffdfbbef44af0f16f38e9b8690d34c677a835?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laura Wilkinson"},"description":"Laura is a copyeditor and writer with Rosh Review\/Blueprint Test Prep. She has a background in science and science communication (BS in Zoology, MS in Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology, and Certificate for the Professional Sequence in Editing). She's passionate about making difficult concepts easy to understand. Outside of work, she loves to cook, bake, hike, and chase her kiddos around.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.roshreview.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lauracwilkinson"],"url":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/author\/lwilkinson-2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7152"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}