Capitalisation of e.g. and similar at the start of a sentence
James Harris
sentence. Is there an accepted capitalisation for this? Similar issues
exist for other such abbreviations. So is it:
E.g. this?
E.G. this?
e.g. This?
Or is it always wrong to use such an abbreviation at the start of a
sentence so requiring "For example"?
James
(Additional words to aid searches: capitalise capitalize
capitalization latin)
Mark Brader
> Sometimes it's convenient to say "e.g." at the beginning of a
> sentence. Is there an accepted capitalisation for this?
It can only be "E.g."; but I would avoid it in that position;
e.g., by replacing the preceding period with a semicolon.
--
Mark Brader | "When I was 10 years old, all I gave my sweetheart was
Toronto | a pair of projections that turned the group of rotations
m...@vex.net | in 4 dimensions into principal bundles over the 3-sphere."
| -- Yann (Greg Egan: "Schild's Ladder")
Don Phillipson
news:2f593026-4da9-4d0c...@p24g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
> Sometimes it's convenient to say "e.g." at the beginning of a
> sentence. Is there an accepted capitalisation for this? Similar issues
> exist for other such abbreviations. So is it:
>
> E.g. this?
>
> E.G. this?
>
> e.g. This?
>
> Or is it always wrong to use such an abbreviation at the start of a
> sentence so requiring "For example"?
Formal style includes that every complete sentence must
display a main clause (verb and subject.) As the meaning of e.g.
suggests, this usually occurs in subordinate clauses. E.g. cannot
(or hardly ever) begin a sentence, unless for special rhetorical
effect (labelled as special by its conscious breach of the
traditional rules of speech or writing.)
When it appears "convenient" to introduce a sentence with e.g.,
we may be prompted to reconsider the relation between formal
rules (of speech or writing) and whatever special purpose
inclines us to break a rule. No rule of English obliges us to use
some particular phrase (for example) or its learned abbreviation
(e.g.) or to locate it at some particular place in our sentence.
English has its rules, but they are not this sort of rule.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
James Harris
> "James Harris" <james.harri...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:2f593026-4da9-4d0c...@p24g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Sometimes it's convenient to say "e.g." at the beginning of a
> > sentence. Is there an accepted capitalisation for this? Similar issues
> > exist for other such abbreviations. So is it:
>
> > E.g. this?
>
> > E.G. this?
>
> > e.g. This?
>
> > Or is it always wrong to use such an abbreviation at the start of a
> > sentence so requiring "For example"?
>
> Formal style includes that every complete sentence must
> display a main clause (verb and subject.) As the meaning of e.g.
> suggests, this usually occurs in subordinate clauses. E.g. cannot
> (or hardly ever) begin a sentence, unless for special rhetorical
> effect (labelled as special by its conscious breach of the
> traditional rules of speech or writing.)
>
I chose the word carefully. It is convenient to begin a sentence with
e.g. in informal texts - such as e-mails and Usenet postings. In these
circumstances a more formal construction may seem pretentious.
> ... to introduce a sentence with e.g.,