12

I am currently using devd/Academic-Writing-Check for my master thesis in computer science. One thing it complains about is the usage of e.g.. What is wrong with that?

For example, I wrote:

1. In the case of many classes (e.g. 1000~classes of ImageNet) ...
2. This threshold can either be set automatically (e.g. such that 10% of all pairs are above the threshold) or semi-automatically ...
3. \item Color space (e.g. RGB, HSV)
Improve this question
11
  • 12
    I've heard at least one source say something like, "No one studies Latin anymore, so younger people don't know what that means". I personally say screw that advice. – Daniel R. Collins Apr 15 '17 at 16:20
  • 9
    Without reading the text, it's difficult to say: maybe you misused e.g. in place of i.e., or you didn't put a comma after e.g., or simply the authors of that app thought that using such kind of abbreviations is not nice. – Massimo Ortolano Apr 15 '17 at 16:22
  • 2
    Who knows? Ask whoever wrote that software, don't just accept their views as absolute truth... – user89134 Apr 15 '17 at 16:35
  • 4
    The regex in the fixAbbr method (in checkwriting file) definitely wants a comma after e.g. i.stack.imgur.com/3g4cB.png – Martin Smith Apr 15 '17 at 20:07
  • 4
    There is an "English Language and Usage" Stack Exchange site which is perhaps a better fit for your question than this site. That said, (1) in my opinion what you wrote is definitely fine as it is, and it would also be fine with a comma after e.g. in each case; (2) grammar advice given by a regex string matcher can be useful, but should be taken with a grain of salt. – Anonymous Apr 15 '17 at 20:16
8

As I commented, a possible cause is that of the missing comma after e.g.; Pam Peters in her Cambridge guide to English usage says:

The punctuation before and after e.g. has long been the subject of prescription. A comma used to be considered necessary after it, and is still usual, according to the Chicago Manual (2003). But most style guides now dispense with the following comma, and simply emphasize having one before it.

So, some still suggest the usage of a comma after e.g. Actually, whenever I didn't put a comma after e.g. in a paper, the typesetter added it.

Indeed, this is easy to check: add a few commas here and there and see what happens!

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    I do not know. All of my British co-authors remove the comma after e.g. – PsySp Apr 15 '17 at 17:34
  • 5
    @PsySp Punctuation in British English and American English are different. Of course there's a larger problem that people think the rules they learned are strict rules everyone has to follow, even if the rules they learned were actually just guidelines. – Kimball Apr 15 '17 at 18:24

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.