Now I have always had troubles remembering when to use i.e. and when to use e.g. So yesterday when I was writing my 101 post (a.k.a, the post below this) and was adding on the example part for step 9, I felt a strong urge to get it right.

So I went to Google and started researching. Fairly quickly I found exactly what I needed (I would have found it quicker, but I accidentally put e.i. instead of i.e. the first time *fail*).

i.e.

“I.e.” stands simply for “that is,” which written out fully in Latin is ‘id est‘. “I.e.” is used in place of “in other words,” or “it/that is.” It specifies or makes more clear.

e.g.

“E.g.” means “for example” and comes from the Latin expression exempli gratia, “for the sake of an example,” with the noun exemplum in the genitive (possessive case) to go with gratia in the ablative (prepositional case). “E.g.” is used in expressions similar to “including,” when you are not intending to list everything that is being discussed.

That’s the basics and the only thing I bothered to read, but there was more on the page if any of you are interested.

That said, hopefully I (and maybe some of you, dunno how much trouble you guys and gals have had with this) will have fewer troubles keeping this straight. I know I’ve probably done it wrong several times before, and there is no way I’m going go and check every post or what not for mistakes in this area.

Oh, and as a last note, now that you know what i.e. stands for, reread this title and see what it really says :P.