Add comma after e.g. and i.e.?
We are inconsistently about adding a comma after e.g. and i.e.:
$ cd doc/src/sgml/
$ cat *.sgml */*.sgml | egrep -c '(e\.g\.|i\.e\.),'
255
$ cat *.sgml */*.sgml | egrep -c '(e\.g\.|i\.e\.)[^,:]'
87
I removed the colon because using a trailing colon is always valid in
context.
This summarizes the recommended behavior:
https://jakubmarian.com/comma-after-i-e-and-e-g/
In British English, “i.e.” and “e.g.” are not followed by a comma, so
the first example above would be:
They sell computer components, e.g. motherboards, graphic cards, CPUs.
Virtually all American style guides recommend to follow both “i.e.” and
“e.g.” with a comma (just like if “that is” and “for example” were used
instead), so the very same sentence in American English would become:
So, what do we want to do? Leave it unchanged, or pick one of these
styles?
--
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> https://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB https://enterprisedb.com
The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness, Bruce Lee
On 2020-08-25 20:36, Bruce Momjian wrote:
We are inconsistently about adding a comma after e.g. and i.e.:
[..]
Virtually all American style guides recommend to follow both “i.e.”
and
“e.g.” with a comma (just like if “that is” and “for example” were
used
instead), so the very same sentence in American English would become:So, what do we want to do? Leave it unchanged, or pick one of these
styles?
For what it's worth, I am in favor of that comma.
Erik Rijkers
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> writes:
We are inconsistently about adding a comma after e.g. and i.e.:
This summarizes the recommended behavior:
https://jakubmarian.com/comma-after-i-e-and-e-g/
In British English, “i.e.” and “e.g.” are not followed by a comma, so
the first example above would be:
They sell computer components, e.g. motherboards, graphic cards, CPUs.
Virtually all American style guides recommend to follow both “i.e.” and
“e.g.” with a comma (just like if “that is” and “for example” were used
instead), so the very same sentence in American English would become:
So, what do we want to do? Leave it unchanged, or pick one of these
styles?
I think it's fairly pointless to try to enforce such a thing.
Even if you made the docs 100% consistent on the issue today,
they wouldn't stay that way for long, because nobody else is
really going to care about it.
(FWIW, I generally write a comma myself. But I'm not going
to cry about text that hasn't got one.)
regards, tom lane
On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 03:10:44PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> writes:
We are inconsistently about adding a comma after e.g. and i.e.:
This summarizes the recommended behavior:
https://jakubmarian.com/comma-after-i-e-and-e-g/
In British English, “i.e.” and “e.g.” are not followed by a comma, so
the first example above would be:
They sell computer components, e.g. motherboards, graphic cards, CPUs.
Virtually all American style guides recommend to follow both “i.e.” and
“e.g.” with a comma (just like if “that is” and “for example” were used
instead), so the very same sentence in American English would become:So, what do we want to do? Leave it unchanged, or pick one of these
styles?I think it's fairly pointless to try to enforce such a thing.
Even if you made the docs 100% consistent on the issue today,
they wouldn't stay that way for long, because nobody else is
really going to care about it.(FWIW, I generally write a comma myself. But I'm not going
to cry about text that hasn't got one.)
I wasn't worried about enforcing going forward, but rather if we should
make what we have now consistent.
--
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> https://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB https://enterprisedb.com
The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness, Bruce Lee
On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 03:27:33PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 03:10:44PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> writes:
We are inconsistently about adding a comma after e.g. and i.e.:
This summarizes the recommended behavior:
https://jakubmarian.com/comma-after-i-e-and-e-g/
In British English, “i.e.” and “e.g.” are not followed by a comma, so
the first example above would be:
They sell computer components, e.g. motherboards, graphic cards, CPUs.
Virtually all American style guides recommend to follow both “i.e.” and
“e.g.” with a comma (just like if “that is” and “for example” were used
instead), so the very same sentence in American English would become:So, what do we want to do? Leave it unchanged, or pick one of these
styles?I think it's fairly pointless to try to enforce such a thing.
Even if you made the docs 100% consistent on the issue today,
they wouldn't stay that way for long, because nobody else is
really going to care about it.(FWIW, I generally write a comma myself. But I'm not going
to cry about text that hasn't got one.)I wasn't worried about enforcing going forward, but rather if we should
make what we have now consistent.
I plan to move forward with this, and will backpatch it so later patches
are easier to apply. I think we are fine with adding inconsistent
usages over time --- this is probably only something we will address in
mass every 10 years or so.
--
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> https://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB https://enterprisedb.com
The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness, Bruce Lee
On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 10:38:30PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 03:27:33PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
I wasn't worried about enforcing going forward, but rather if we should
make what we have now consistent.I plan to move forward with this, and will backpatch it so later patches
are easier to apply. I think we are fine with adding inconsistent
usages over time --- this is probably only something we will address in
mass every 10 years or so.
Done.
--
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> https://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB https://enterprisedb.com
The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness, Bruce Lee