[projectaon] Re: Comment Period for Lone Wolf 1-7
- From: Jonathan Blake <jonathan.blake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:41:58 -0700
On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 12:10 PM, Ingo Kloecker
<projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Wednesday 21 September 2011, Benjamin I Krefetz wrote:
>> I don't know why I've never noticed this before, but why aren't we
>> placing commas after "e.g." and "i.e."? I looked for a definitive
>> ruling in the Manual of Style, but there's no mention either way.
>
> I did a quick check of all books. "e.g." and "i.e." are never followed
> by a comma. I think that pretty much answers the question. Why come up
> with a definitive rule for something which, de facto, is already
> standardized in the books?
I think your search may have missed some examples from the printed of
"eg," and "ie,".
In those cases, if I remember correctly, we dropped the commas when we
added the commas based on the recommendation of Fowler. I'm surprised
now to find that this seems to be the minority opinion:
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ie-eg-oh-my.aspx
This unimpeachable source says that both are acceptable:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie
Personally, I find the comma either fussy-looking or arguably wrong
depending on context. To take an example from the Grey Star the
Wizard, we currently have:
"... section of your Action Chart. (e.g. if your pencil fell on the
number 4 in ..."
I think the following looks too fussy with too much punctuation going on:
"... section of your Action Chart. (e.g., if your pencil fell on the
number 4 in ..."
(BTW, we really should capitalize that as "E.g." or move the
parenthetical sentence inside the previous sentence or something.)
In the case of "i.e." I would argue that it's usually wrong to use a
comma because "i.e." translates as "that is" and so the comma
separates a verb from its complement which is a no-no.
We should add an entry in the Manual of Style. Any objections to the status quo?
--
Jon
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