Eg is the abbreviation for exempli grata , Latin for “for example” .This Latin abbreviation is common mainly in legal texts, both in the form eg and also vg ( verbi gratia ), which has a meaning equivalent to that of exempli gratia .Thus, one should use eg to indicate that the following text consists of examples referring to what is before the abbreviation.
Example: “Do not forget to buy fruits (eg apples, bananas, grapes and pears).”
Normally, eg should be used in parentheses, followed by examples that are related to the previous sentence, as in the example above.
Eg and ie
Ie is the abbreviation of the Latin expression id est and means “that is” ,
ie is also common in legal or scientific texts, for example.
Unlike eg , which is used to give examples of what has been said, ie serves to signal the explanation, specification or description of a statement made earlier in the text.
Example: “The whale is a mammal, ie an animal that is generated in the female’s uterus and feeds on breast milk.”
Because they are an abbreviation for Latin expressions, both must be written in italics.
