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Can you use "e.g." after you have listed something?

I've been busy trying to figure out training, WHMIS e.g.

Mari-Lou A
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Corey Porter
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    The answer is never to use e.g. — ever. Use English not Latin, and use words not abbreviations. – tchrist Apr 02 '15 at 22:04
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    e.g. is considered an acceptable form of English. :) – Corey Porter Apr 02 '15 at 22:06
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    ... 1,080,000,000 Google results proves ... er ... – Edwin Ashworth Apr 02 '15 at 22:16
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    Once again, a question immediately down-voted without pausing to realize that there is more to it than first appears. Most know that e.g. appears at the beginning of a list of examples... but there is no real reason it should not appear at the end, just as "for example" may appear at the head or at the tail of an example or examples. – bobro Apr 02 '15 at 22:27
  • Completely. If you read it exactly as "for example", it seems to be usable as, "I really hate fruit, apples e.g." Just trying to find the "rule" for this usage. – Corey Porter Apr 02 '15 at 22:29
  • The answer that is up-voted and green-checked at the earlier thread bases its argument on a chunk of patent sophistry, though. The argument is that e.g. goes at the beginning because it is used to introduce examples. But why is it used to introduce? Because it goes at the beginning... "For the sake of example", which is what the dang thing means, can go where it pleases as long as everything is clear. – bobro Apr 02 '15 at 22:43
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    Be bold. Use it thusly. Why conform? – pazzo Apr 02 '15 at 22:47
  • Wherever you might say "for example" you can substitute "e.g." (or "eg" -- the periods get a little silly looking in many cases). It may be a hair less "formal", but not much. – Hot Licks Apr 02 '15 at 22:49
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    This appears in David's answer in the original: Brian Garner, Garner's Modern American Usage (OUP, 2009), p. 295, [states that] "e.g. introduces representative examples". – Edwin Ashworth Apr 02 '15 at 23:58
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    Actually "thusly" is an overkill, in making an adverb from a word that is already an adverb: thus. Is being bold synonymous with being wrong? – Abe Apr 03 '15 at 02:21
  • Interesting that two close-voters think this as off-topic and should not be here, but three (including myself) think it has been dealt with in a question asked three years ago, with three answers. – Tim Lymington Apr 03 '15 at 09:24

4 Answers4

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Exempli gratia is Latin for 'for example,' in English I have seen after a list people write for example; but, I have never seen e.g. placed at the end of a list; I guess e.g. is far too august of an abbreviation to ride on the caboose.

Abe
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    I would not bat an eyelash at seeing "eg" at the end of a list, or using it that way myself. Insisting that it can only come first is P-ist nonsense. – Hot Licks Apr 03 '15 at 03:36
  • Garners Modern American Usage says: " [it[ introduces representative examples. I guess keeping the reader in suspense until he sees Latin for example at the end could be literary device! Nonetheless, when we write according to our very own rule that is not Standard English. – Abe Apr 04 '15 at 06:29
  • There is no such thing as "Standard English". – Hot Licks Apr 04 '15 at 12:12
  • And you haven't said how you'd handle this: "Unfortunately this stuff (bicycle geometry measurements) is not all that well standardized. Seat tube length, eg, may be to the center of the BB or to the bottom, depending on whose system you're using." – Hot Licks Apr 04 '15 at 12:14
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It's very simple. Use "e.g." (or "eg") when you might otherwise say "for example". Use "etc." when you might otherwise say "and so forth".

It's hard to conceive of a case where "etc." would not be last in a list, but there is no similar/mirror restriction on "e.g.".

Hot Licks
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    Downvoters, so how would you have phrased this: "Unfortunately this stuff (bicycle geometry measurements) is not all that well standardized. Seat tube length, eg, may be to the center of the BB or to the bottom, depending on whose system you're using." – Hot Licks Apr 03 '15 at 12:09
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To try to integrate all the responses into a single answer: yes, you __could_ put e.g. after a list -- but that's an uncommon usage and is likely to interrupt the reader rather badly while they work through exactly this debate, and unless that's your intent you _shouldn't _ use it this way.

Correct, but still wrong.

"Real Writers Rewrite To Avoid The Problem."

keshlam
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I think you are looking for "etc.", which you do put at the end of your list. It means "and other things", "and so on". Informally, you could say it means "and stuff like that".

E.g. means "for example" and is put before your example or list of examples.

It is good form to use e.g. in cases where space and text is limited. E.g., in these online forums.

bobro
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  • I completely know how to use it. However, an english teacher I know used it at the end of a sentence just after listing something. I found that really odd and I was wondering if there were any rules for this. – Corey Porter Apr 02 '15 at 22:25
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    There is no logical reason other than tradition for putting e.g. before an example or examples rather than at the end. After all, you can do the same with "for example". So, I agree with you that it's odd as far as tradition, but I think it's perfectly fine. – bobro Apr 02 '15 at 22:30
  • The question is [to paraphrase] do 'for example' and 'e.g.' have identical distributions?. An answer needs evidence rather than opinion. 'Etc' was not mentioned by OP. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 02 '15 at 22:31
  • To save more space, one can use eg. I've seen it in British books published by Routledge. And I think the British usually lead the way in getting rid of unnecessary periods, as in Mr and Dr, eg. – pazzo Apr 02 '15 at 22:38
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    The evidence we have is that e.g. stands for exemplii gratia- for the sake of example. There is no evidence that this is "intoductory", other than the bogus circular logic that it must be introductory because it's traditionally placed prior to the example or examples. – bobro Apr 02 '15 at 22:54
  • 'E.g. means "for example" and is put before your example or list of examples.' // 'e.g. stands for exemplii gratia – for the sake of example. There is no evidence that this is "intoductory" ... ' >> It's not often that an answerer contradicts themself. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 02 '15 at 23:20
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    @bobro That makes no sense. Introductory here means that it stands at the head of the list, before the items themselves, and the fact that that is where it is used is exactly why it is said to be introductory. Your argument is like saying the only evidence that -ness is a suffix is that it's always suffixed to derivational stems—well, yes, that's the whole definition of a suffix. There's nothing circular about it. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Apr 03 '15 at 00:51
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    @CoreyPorter your teacher probably committed a typo. A list can and often ends with "etc". It happens to everyone. Did you ask your teacher? What did that person say? – Mari-Lou A Apr 03 '15 at 01:54
  • It is circular reasoning to assume that e.g. is introductory because of its traditional positioning, then to claim that is must be put in that position because it is introductory. – bobro Apr 03 '15 at 05:56
  • No, that's still not circular. The two are synonymous. Initial position = introductory = initial position. If one is true, so is the other. One implies, validates, and equals the other. You can challenge the presumption itself, which, if successfully done, will invalidate both, but unlike in circular logic, you cannot challenge just one element in the logic. Anecdotally, though, I don't recall ever seeing or hearing e.g. used non-introductorily apart from on this page, whereas non-introductory for example is quite common. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Apr 03 '15 at 09:32
  • Order and function are not knotted, Gordian, in the English language, @Janus Bahs Jacquet – bobro Apr 03 '15 at 12:05