If you read a lot of journalistic articles, chances are you have stumbled upon the marks “i.e.” and “e.g.”. Chances are you probably also never thought you never truly knew what they meant.

The confusion is obvious when you take a good look. First and foremost, we have the dreaded “i.e.”. Most people either pronounce it “I E” or “in example”, both of which are wrong. “i.e.” is actually an acronym for Latin “id est”, literally “that is”. The grammatical sens of a phrase may thus be very different if you interpret it wrong. Besides, “in example” is wrong grammar. You should always use “for example”.

Second but not last is “e.g.”. Much in the same way, “e.g.” is not read by its sounding which is similar to “example”, but rather as the Latin “exempli gratia”, literally “for the sake of an example”. Because of its close meaning, reading “e.g.” as “for example” is generally accepted and can be used in situations which require such a construct.