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I bet you never saw this one coming. Yep, it’s Latin abbreviation time, and today I’m going to break out some tips for helping you master commonly misused and abused abbreviations from this ancient European language.

Ready, set, let’s go!

1. e.g.

e.g. stands for exempli gratia, which means “for the sake of an example,” and is commonly shortened to mean “for example.” The problem with e.g. is that many people use i.e. instead, which leads to an inaccurate use of both abbreviations.

Typically, when you mean “for example,” you should use e.g. and then provide one to two examples.

Here is an example of proper use:

Most make money bloggers (e.g. Darren Rowse, Pat Flynn, Copyblogger) teach people how to create and sell information products.

2. i.e.

i.e. can be translated to mean id est which can be translated to mean “that is.” When used properly, it helps convey meaning of a particular statement. In other words, you would use i.e. to re-state something that might be confusing.

As stated above, many people mistake i.e. to mean “for example,” and as a result abuse this phrase to death.

Here’s an example of proper use:

The Bad Blogger has an uncanny approach (i.e. uses sex and money) to discuss modern blogging topics.

3. sic

This is one of those abbreviations that you’ll see in a lot of professional print publications, as well as some of the major online news publications. If you’re like most people, you’ll have zero idea what it means. Let’s take care of that today…

Sic is placed in parenthesis or brackets after a word or phrase that has been misused or misspelled by its source.

For example:

“Charlie Sheen is a MaSheen (sic)”

In this case, Sheen is changing the proper spelling of Machine to suite his tastes.

That being said, sic is one of those phrases best left to academic and reporter types, and I wouldn’t worry about using it on your blog. However, at least now you know what it means.

4. etc.

etc. is used to complete a list of names or items and is usually preceded by a comma and placed at the end of the list. It stands for et cetera and can be translated to mean “and so forth.”

When using etc., try not to combine it with e.g. or including, as it reaches redundancy at that point. Also, make sure you place the c after the t. Many people make the mistake of spelling etc. as ect.

Here’s an example of proper use:

If you really want to learn marketing, then you need to understand email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, etc.

5. et al.

Like etc., et al. is used to shorten lists of names or items, but is different because it is usually more formal and preceded by one name or item.

e.g. when talking about a list of book authors in a review post:

Author 1, et al. have written a highly enticing book on a topic near and dear to my heart.

Maybe we’ll break out another list of Latin abbreviations sometime in the future, but for now, these are five of the easiest to misuse.

So tell me, which ones have you been using wrong? Let’s talk about it below.