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Is it aceptable to write "i.e." at the begining of a sencnce?

For example:

Does the above formula equal 2?
i.e. does (insert simple formula here) equal 10?

or should it be

Does the above formula equal 2?
I.e. does (insert simple formula here) equal 10?

or both capitalised?

Does the above formula equal 2?
I.E. does (insert simple formula here) equal 10?

Or would it be better to write

Does the above formula equal 2?
By that I mean does (insert simple formula here) equal 10?

or

Does the above formula equal 2?
That is, does (insert simple formula here) equal 10?

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    I'd prefer "That is" to "I.e.", but that doesn't answer your question of whether "i.e." is a legitimate way to start a sentence.
    – Dan Bron
    Aug 25, 2014 at 21:19
  • @nneonneo Flagging too! Sorry for that!
    – Tim
    Aug 25, 2014 at 21:25
  • Note that "i.e." literally means "that is", but I agree with @DanBron that "that is" is more readable.
    – nneonneo
    Aug 25, 2014 at 21:25
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    Yeah, it is :) I will edit my question on Mathematics to be "That is"!
    – Tim
    Aug 25, 2014 at 21:27
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    Of course you could go into the full Latin and write 'Id est does (simple formula here) equal 10?' But seriously I always go with your second option and write I.e.
    – WS2
    Aug 25, 2014 at 23:19

1 Answer 1

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Put 'i.e.' exactly where you would put 'that is'. As you would with that phrase, capitalize only the first letter, and set it off with a comma.

It is common to say "Did he say that? That is, was it this man who said it?" So using 'i.e.' that way is also just fine.

Overdone, it can sound clinical or pretentious, perhaps because it is very common in clinical settings, where one asks a short question with a lot of context and then restates the same thing including the context explicitly. It gives the reader a chance to get oriented to the goal with something simple, and then dig into the details.

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