‘i.e.’ vs ‘e.g.’ | English Grammar Explained | Episode 32

[00:00:00]Observe, Inspector.

[00:00:02]Council Habersham's volume, print finer voices, i.e. Basil Nibbs, a curious Latin hiccup. It is more than a hiccup.

[00:00:12]It is a fingerprint. Latin lends gravitas, sir. His Lordship enjoyed abbreviations, house style. He enjoyed accuracy. i.e. means id est, that is, an equal sign in a waistcoat. One uses it to restate, not to audition examples. If the letter means Basil is the only finer voice, the insult is baroque. If it means for example, Basil, the Latin has fallen down the stairs and broken its case. Try the substitution test, Mr. Pym. Replace i.e. with that is.

[00:00:50]Print finer voices, that is Basil Nibbs.

[00:00:54]Nonsense. Unless Basil is the entire category of finer voices. Perhaps his Lordship meant precisely that. He could be cutting. He could be, yes. He was not absurd. For examples, we have e.g. exempli gratia. For example, different servant, different tray.

[00:01:16]Your tray, in fact.

[00:01:19]Return glassware, i.e. decanters, wine glasses, to the pantry.

[00:01:25]You wrote this, Mr. Pym. I drafted it for clarity. You have clarified away all the tumblers. i.e. narrows, e.g. opens.

[00:01:35]Your notice now declares that glassware means only decanters and wine glasses.

[00:01:41]Tumblers, coupes, sherry fizzles, orphans.

[00:01:45]The pantry weeps. It is a tiny slip.

[00:01:48]Tiny slips repeat.

[00:01:50]Here again.

[00:01:52]Set a light supper, i.e. soup.

[00:01:56]Habersham wrote supper to mean an actual meal. He would have ordered supper, e.g. soup, if he meant an example, or supper, that is soup, if he meant only soup.

[00:02:10]He did neither.

[00:02:11]Someone forged his tone and tripped on his Latin. E.g. can look careless, sir.

[00:02:18]The dots get lost. The dots are loyal.

[00:02:21]Also, a smaller catechism for our congregation of ears.

[00:02:25]I.e. means that is, or in other words.

[00:02:29]Equivalence, restatement.

[00:02:31]E.g. means for example, one or more specimens.

[00:02:36]And do not mix e.g. with etc. Your examples already promise more.

[00:02:42]In British style, dots and a small pause are courteous.

[00:02:47]Parentheses are hospitable. Many men muddle Latin, sir.

[00:02:52]It is not a sin.

[00:02:53]No, it is habit. Yours.

[00:02:57]Same cramped handwriting, same prissy dash before the parentheses.

[00:03:02]Same misuse of i.e. for for example.

[00:03:07]Your house style is on both. I copy forms, inspector. Lists, menus, notices.

[00:03:13]One absorbs these things by osmosis.

[00:03:16]If the letter shares the pantry's punctuation, it only proves we are tidy. It proves the pantry has been moonlighting as the study.

[00:03:25]And there is the violet smudge again.

[00:03:29]Right of the eye, a bruise of ink. Your favorite temper at the inkwell. Many inks are violet.

[00:03:37]Habersham's was iron gall black. Basil's was violet and badly managed. Your violet is precise and timid.

[00:03:45]This stroke trembles and then recovers.

[00:03:49]Someone wrote beyond his grammar and retreated into his penmanship. If I had forged it, if inspector, I would not flaunt my style. I would improve it. Villains always improve things.

[00:04:03]That is how we find them.

[00:04:05]We do not have certainty. We have affinity.

[00:04:09]The forged letter misuses i.e. Your notices misused i.e. The hand is not identical to Habersham's, but its errors match your habits.

[00:04:20]That is not proof.

[00:04:21]It is direction. Direction toward me, you mean?

[00:04:25]Toward the person for whom Latin is decorative. Habersham used i.e. to nail down meaning. You use it to scatter petals.

[00:04:34]I learned my English in service, professor.

[00:04:37]In service, one shortens.

[00:04:39]i.e. is smaller than such as.

[00:04:42]One writes with one eye on the ball. One also writes with one eye on motive.

[00:04:49]Habersham plans to publish accounts.

[00:04:51]Yours among them. A forged letter promoting Basil distracts [music] us from a forged column exposing you and the viscount.

[00:05:00]Neat work.

[00:05:02]Too neat. I I did not poison [music] him. We are speaking of pens. Poison has its own grammar.

[00:05:09]We shall parse it later. For the lesson before we confiscate the stationery.

[00:05:14]If you can replace the Latin with that is, >> [music] >> and the sentence survives, use i.e. If you can replace it with for example, [music] and list two or three specimens, use e.g. Then what will you do? What I always do.

[00:05:30]I shall take the letter, bring your pantry card, and ask every gentleman to show me his Latin. Meanwhile, you will stay where I can find you.

[00:05:40]If inspiration strikes, you may write, but not to the publishers. And if you must label the teacups, try [music] this. Return glassware, e.g. tumblers, to the pantry.

[00:05:53]The tumblers will thank you.

[00:05:54]So will logic.

[00:05:56]>> Very good, sir.

[00:05:57]>> It is better than very good. It is narrowing.

[00:06:00]The forgery does [music] not convict you. It places the pen in the hands of someone who thinks i.e. means for example.

[00:06:08]In this house, that is a smaller crowd than usual.

[00:06:13]Small crowds are easier to interrogate.

[00:06:16]Consider this an example, e.g. of mercy, that i.e. that is the meaning is that we are not finished.