Hey, everyone—welcome to another English grammar lesson. Today we’re going to be covering a few
more common abbreviations.
Okay, so the first abbreviation we’re going to talk about today, “e.g.,”
comes from the Latin phrase “exempli gratia,” which simply means “for example.”
And, because of that, it’s pretty easy to use. “There are many types of trees (e.g., oak, fig, and sycamore) in the park.”
So here we have the abbreviation “e.g.,” followed by a comma because
it’s being used like “for example,” which is a transition that—in most cases—requires a comma
after it. And then we just have a list of those examples, which, in this case, is just a couple
trees. Or how about this: “I enjoy many kinds of music—e.g., rock, jazz, and rap.” So, again,
we use “e.g.” just like “for example,” which means we’re throwing that comma in after it.
And then, of course, we list our examples. Now, a few quick things to note: Personally,
I don’t love starting sentences with “e.g.” In fact, I almost always like putting “e.g.” in
parentheses, like in the first example, or maybe after a dash or something, like this example. But
if you do start a sentence with it, like, after a period, you know, you would just capitalize the
“e.” And if you end a sentence with it, the period at the end of “e.g.” can also serve as the period
at the end of your sentence; you don’t need two. The same preferences and style suggestions apply
to our next abbreviation, “i-e,” which comes from the Latin phrase “id est,” meaning “that is” or
“in other words.” Let’s take a look… “I need some compensation (i.e., a raise) for my hard work.”
So we’re saying we need some “compensation,” which is a fancy way of saying that we want a raise.
Again, notice the comma; this is because “i.e.” is very similar to “in other
words,” which is a phrase that pretty much always takes a comma. Or how about this:
“I’m a vegetarian—i.e., I don’t eat meat.” Again, you’re saying that you’re a vegetarian. So,
in other words, you don’t eat meat. Pretty simple, right? Just keep paying attention
to your punctuation—making sure everything is in the right place—and you’re all good. Okay,
now onto our third and final abbreviation, “et al.,” which comes from the Latin phrase “et alii,”
meaning “and others.” So “et al.” is basically the same thing as “et cetera,” which we’ve
covered in a previous lesson, only it’s used with people, not things. So, if you ever see
“et al.,” it’s probably going to be in some sort of professional or technical writing,
and that’s because “et al.” is often used with a list of authors or contributors—usually
for an article or a research publication or something of that nature.
So let’s take a look: “The authors (Smith et al.) have a very unique writing style.”
So, this is pretty simple. “Et al.” means “and others,” so basically what you’re saying here
is “The authors (Smith and others) have a very unique writing style.” And here you’ll
notice that there’s no comma because you’ve only got one name before it in the list.
Or how about this one: “The article from Houston, Thomas, Sanchez, et al. was quite interesting.”
Again, you’re using this abbreviation just like “and others.” So, in this one, we do have a comma
because there are multiple names listed before the “et al.” One important thing to note, though,
about “et al.,” is that it’s plural, so whenever you use it, you have to be replacing at least two
people’s names. So if you only have one person left in your list, don’t use “et al.” Only use
it when you’re leaving off at least two people.
Cool! Well, whether you came here for a refresher or are just now learning this stuff
for the first time, I hope this video helped. Be sure to check out the free practice down in the description,
and—uh—we’ll see you next time. Thanks.