“e.g." and "i.e." are Latin abbreviations used frequently in English.
Even though they are used commonly in writing, the two abbreviations are often confused and misinterpreted. They are also mistakenly interchanged at times.
e.g.
“e.g." means “for example" and is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase “exempli gratia" which means “for the sake of an example“.
e.g. is used when similar examples have to be given. A common mistake is ending the list of examples with etc. which is not correct.
i.e.
“i.e." means “that is" and its full form in Latin is “id est". It usually means “in other words".
i.e. is used when a more precise or extended description of the thing mentioned has to be given.
Both e.g. and i.e. abbreviations are always used in small alphabets.
The letters should always be separated by a full stop and followed by a comma when they are being used in a sentence.
Sample Usage
Usage of e.g.
1. The restaurant that we went to yesterday offered a wide variety of soups, e.g., sweet corn soup, tomato soup, vegetable soup.
2. Lots of games have been planned for after the birthday party, e.g., passing the parcel, dumb charades, blind man's buff.
3. Vitamin A is abundantly found in deep yellow fruits, e.g., mangoes, papayas, bananas.
Usage of i.e.
1. My friend is going to arrive on the Independence Day, i.e., 15th of August.
2. The match, i.e., the final match is going to be played on Friday.
3. I am very excited as I would be visiting the epitome of eternal love, i.e., the Tajmahal tomorrow.
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