Misused Word of the Day

Today's word isn't so much a word as two commonly misused sets of letters.

i.e. and e.g.

i.e., from the Latin id est, means "that is." When you make a statement using "i.e." there should only be one thing to follow, and it should be a synonym, or another name, for whatever preceded it. It indicates that an explanation or paraphrase is about to follow.

“Many workers expect to put in a forty-hour week — i.e., to work eight hours a day.”


e.g., from the Latin exempli gratia, means "for example; for the sake of example; such as." A list of examples may be preceded by e.g.

“She loved exotic fruit, e.g., mangoes, passion fruit, and papayas.”

Many times, these two are used interchangeably. Most often, I see "i.e." used when what the speaker means is "e.g."

And now that you know the difference, I trust that you will use them correctly from now on; i.e. don't mix them up any more.