For instance/for example
Claus Tondering
help of various dictionaries to find out what the difference between
"for instance" and "for example" is, all to no avail. The Oxford
Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English explains "for instance"
as "by way of example", so that does not make me any wiser. Nor
do other dictionaries help me.
Is there any difference?
Claus Tondering
Lyngby, Denmark
E-mail: cla...@uts.uni-c.dk
Evan Kirshenbaum
>I am not a native speaker of English. I have been trying with the
>help of various dictionaries to find out what the difference between
>"for instance" and "for example" is, all to no avail. The Oxford
>Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English explains "for instance"
>as "by way of example", so that does not make me any wiser. Nor
>do other dictionaries help me.
>
>Is there any difference?
None that I can think of. I think I'm more likeley to use "for
instance", but both are productive for me. "For example" sounds a
*little* better than "for instance" when used after the exemplar
("There are many people -- John, for example -- who ..."), but both
are realy ok either before or after.
In writing, they are equivalent to "e.g." (which only occurs before
the exemplar).
Evan Kirshenbaum
HP Laboratories
3500 Deer Creek Road, Building 26U
Palo Alto, CA 94304
tha...@desire.wright.edu
cla...@uts.uni-c.dk (Claus Tondering) writes:
> I am not a native speaker of English.
(I cannot help but note that we "native speakers of English" have no end of
difficulty agreeing on how to speak English!)
> I have been trying with the
> help of various dictionaries to find out what the difference between
> "for instance" and "for example" is, all to no avail. The Oxford
> Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English explains "for instance"
> as "by way of example", so that does not make me any wiser. Nor
> do other dictionaries help me.
>
> Is there any difference?
An instance is a particular example, or a specimen. An example is a more
general representative of a class of things (following my dictionary here).
I think this distinction is clearer in Latin. There e.g. (*exempli gratia*)
refers to a group of objects (ideas, animals, words, etc.), only a few of
which are presented for the reader's elucidation. On the other hand,
i.e. (*id est*) and viz. (*videlicet*) refer to a particular instance or
thing, etc. It is that particular that is the intended agent or object of
the sentence.
By The Way: I'm sure there is an exact linguistic term that describes i.e. and
e.g., and I would welcome someone's post as to what that part of speech would
be!
Does this clear anything up?
-----ted hayes
Mark Slagle
> I am not a native speaker of English. I have been trying with the
> help of various dictionaries to find out what the difference between
> "for instance" and "for example" is, all to no avail. The Oxford
> Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English explains "for instance"
> as "by way of example", so that does not make me any wiser. Nor
> do other dictionaries help me.
> Is there any difference?
I don't think that there is much difference in common usage. But
there may be a slight distinction in some cases. "For example"
can be used to introduce an example that serves to illustrate a
general rule, while admitting the possibility of exceptions.
"For instance" can be used to introduce something that follows
from a rule, an instance of it, but that does not necessarily
serve well as a general example of the rule.
The distinction is that an instance may not embody an implication
of generality. Two instances might be different in most
respects, except for conforming to the rule, so that generalizing
from an instance would be hazardous. In contrast, the whole
point of the example is that generalizations may be made from it
in so far as it exemplifies the rule.
--
----
Mark E. Slagle PO Box 61059
sla...@lmsc.lockheed.com Sunnyvale, CA 94088
408-756-0895 USA
Alexander Hanysz
>help of various dictionaries to find out what the difference between
>"for instance" and "for example" is, all to no avail.
I am a native speaker of English, and I don't know of any difference
between the meanings of these two phrases. Can anybody else help us
here?
Alex.