I know, I know…what a generous offer.

I have to right something for work and have 2 things I’m not sure of.

First, what’s the difference between i.e and e.g.  and should they be capitalized or followed with a : thing?

Seconds, when something is plural how do you make it possessive?  As in:  To review the associates work….(being more than one associate)

I really appreciate any help you guys can give me.  It’s starting to get late and my brain’s getting a little squirrily

Homer

quote:when something is plural how do you make it possessive?  As in:  To review the associates work….(being more than one associate)
My personal rule is to observe theword, associate’s, would be one persons’ property, but if there are more than one, Associates’  the aprostrophe goes after the plural form.   I don’t know the ie/eg thing.

Can’t improve much on Milestone’s explanation of possessives. I think we’ve covered this before somewhere on Agora.

ie latin, id est, meaning "that is". Used to introduce an explanation of something you’ve just said briefly.
eg latin, examplis gratis, meaning "example given" or "for example". Used to introduce a particular example of something you’ve just mentioned.
Opinion is divided about the full stops (periods), I don’t use them in line with modern British English usage which tends to omit minor punctuation like that. Conversely, I always use the colon (the : thingy) with no space after the abbreviation.

John

[quote author=John Rastall link=board=grammar;num=1056247199;start=0#2 date=06/22/03 at 07:27:31]Opinion is divided about the full stops (periods), I don’t use them in line with modern British English usage which tends to omit minor punctuation like that.
John

Minor punctuation?  That’s very funny, are you saying the British sentances tend to run-on?

Doh! The full stop at the end of a sentence is not a minor thing. I meant the full stops to indicate an abbreviation, eg: "ie" rather than "i.e.".

:-* But you knew that, didn’t you!

John

[quote author=John Rastall link=board=grammar;num=1056247199;start=0#4 date=06/22/03 at 17:28:46]Doh! The full stop at the end of a sentence is not a minor thing. I meant the full stops to indicate an abbreviation, eg: "ie" rather than "i.e.".

:-* But you knew that, didn’t you!

John

Mr. Rastall, you are very funny.  I really wasn’t sure What you meant.  
I never know if I say i.e. to mean ‘for instance’ is always to have the periods or not, frequently, as I’m ever so lazy, I just type it ‘ie’, and just go on.  Are you saying that it might be correct to do that, as well?

I’ve never seen "e.g." or "i.e." without the periods.  However, I believe either one or both should also be followed by a comma.

-Tim

A comma instead of a colon?  I think ‘e.g.:’ looks a little over punctuated.

[quote author=homer link=board=grammar;num=1056247199;start=0#7 date=06/22/03 at 22:23:47]A comma instead of a colon?  I think ‘e.g.:’ looks a little over punctuated.

That sounds a lot like my elderly relative who wears two bracelets, earrings, a brooch and a necklace, not to mention the ‘blue’ hair.  Spare me the extra punctuation.

I concur with Tim on this one i.e., I always use a comma, but never a colon following i.e. or e.g.

(PS what about the sentence above? Should one end with a double full-stop? It would seem very weird.)

-KS

KS, it took me a second to figure out what a double full-stop is… ;D

I probably would have engaged in the use of parentheses, so I could maintain my high standards for comma-usage.  ;)

I concur with Tim on this one (i.e., I always use a comma, but never a colon, following i.e. or e.g.).

-Tim

[quote author=KSerra link=board=grammar;num=1056247199;start=0#9 date=06/23/03 at 11:26:51]I concur with Tim on this one i.e., I always use a comma, but never a colon following i.e. or e.g.

(PS what about the sentence above? Should one end with a double full-stop?

-KS

No.  Confusing though it may sometimes be, especially if the next sentence begins with a proper noun or other capitalized word, if you end a sentence with an abbreviation, its final period performs double duty.

A period is a period, if it’s used as an abbreviation stop and happens at the end of a sentance, it seems that you could take your cue from the Next sentance beginning after the two spaces required to seperate sentances.  How beautifully all that fits together.  :)

In the UK, a double space was used in the days of manual typewriters but is no longer used in the printed word. My sister is chief sub-editor for a weekly magazine and always has to check for and eliminate rogue double spaces.

Interestingly, if you insert extra spaces into an html document, most browsers will only render a single space between words.

Back to the original topic, I would be happy to go with a comma after the abbreviation but not with full stops (ie, "e.g.," would be a no-no).

John.

[quote author=John Rastall link=board=grammar;num=1056247199;start=0#13 date=06/23/03 at 15:05:21]In the UK, a double space was used in the days of manual typewriters but is no longer used in the printed word. My sister is chief sub-editor for a weekly magazine and always has to check for and eliminate rogue double spaces.

Really?  I didn’t know that.  I was wondering why, in my websites I didn’t have the double space carry through automatically.  I wonder where I was when the edict was passed down?  Was I absent that day?

two spaces required to seperate sentances

Required by whom, I wonder? Two spaces after a period are an abomination in this day and age, causing nothing but headaches for Art Directors worldwide.

Away with them.

- PW