How many native speakers know what the abbreviation ‘e.g’ stands for and how do they pronounce ‘exempli gratia’ if at all?
Many thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Announcing special offers in clothes store[YSaerTTEW443543]
As far as I know, it is not pronounced in full, unless the phrase itself is being discussed; when read aloud, it is “ee gee”, or “for example”, “for instance”. etc.
Righto!
From the Latin “exempli gratia”.
An equivalent abbreviation is i.e. from the Latin “id est”.
They are used in exactly the same way as German z.b. for “zum Beispiel”.
So what do you reckon is the percentage of native speakers who know this? For example, any German knows what ‘z.B.’ (not ‘z.b.’) stands for.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: A newspaper journalist is leaving a voice message for a city developer[YSaerTTEW443543]
Well, as many of such forms in English are derived from Latin (versus being derived from English in the way German gets theirs from German) I would imagine that the percentage is much smaller. I would guess that 80% probably know that it is Latin, but probably less than 40% actually know what either form stands for.
A google search provides hits for e.g. = “example given” so that is a clear sign that many speakers attempt to reanalyze these forms into something English.
Hi,
Since Latin went flying off the school syllabus I doubt there are many of the younger generation who know what the abbreviations stand for. It’s only the old stagers who know that - ipso facto!
Alan