i.e or e.g???

While browsing and surfing the net, I came across a rather interesting article on how people always misuse the abbreviation 'i.e' and also 'e.g'. Truth be told, I was once amongst those who could not differentiate those two abbreviate.

i.e (id est) means 'that is' while e.g (exempli gratia) means 'for the sake of example'. A simpler way to remember both terms is by remembering them as :

• 'i.e.' stands for 'in essence' or 'in other words' and 'e.g.' stands for 'example given'.

Now, in a sentence, one must be very careful in using the abbreviates as to not mislead the meaning of the sentence. As a rule of thumb, 'i.e' is used to paraphrase or to make a statement while 'e.g' is used to give more examples. Below is an example on how to use both abbreviation correctly.

• The elephant is a pachyderm, i.e., an animal with thick skin and nails resembling hooves.
• Buy some vegetables, e.g., carrots, lettuce,tomatoes.
  

The above examples clearly show that both abbreviation differs and they give different meanings to a sentence.

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