Using e.g.

Last revised by Tom Foster on 27 Jul 2022

Using e.g. in Radiopaedia.org articles is common and good practice. However, it is important to use e.g. consistently across the site.

Standard use

It should be remembered that when using e.g., the user is trying to give an example, not an exhaustive list. 

Example

There are many causes of miliary nodules on a chest radiograph, e.g. TB, metastases, hypersensitivity, pneumoconiosis.

Explanation
  • e.g. (Latin phrase "exempli gratia" which means "for the sake of an example"), not eg. 
  • the list is preceded by a comma and space to introduce it, followed by "e.g." 
  • there is no comma after "e.g."
  • list items are separated by commas
  • there is NO terminal "and" clause
  • terminal full-stop/period is used to complete the sentence

There are two important points here:

  1. the only time a comma follows e.g. is when it is used in prose (as in the introductory paragraph in the standard use section above)
  2. the list is a list of selected examples and not an exhaustive list and therefore should not have an "and" at the end, e.g. "TB, metastases, hypersensitivity, pneumoconiosis", rather than "TB, metastases, hypersensitivity and pneumoconiosis"

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