5 Common Latin Abbreviations Used in English | Learn English Grammar for Beginners

Hi everybody, my name is Alicia. In this lesson, we're going to look at five very common Latin abbreviations. These abbreviations are very common in written English today. So, let's break down what they mean and how you

can use them in your written communication as well. Okay, the first one I want to look at is i.e. i.e. This is i {period} e {period} in text.

So, I have in black color today the Latin meaning of these expressions. And we also have today's English meaning in blue here. So, in Latin, this refers to id est. You don't have to worry about what this means, but

this is where the i and the e come from here. So, id est. In English, in today's English, this means in other words or another way to say this is so and so.

So, we use i.e. to express an alternative way of understanding or explaining something. So, when we want to explain a concept or explain a person or whatever in a different way using different words, we can use i.e.

{period} to do that. So, what does this look like? Let's take a look at two examples of this in text. First, we got a big budget for our summer party

from the company, i.e. the CEO. So, this part right here, i.e. the CEO. If we replace i.e.

with in other words, we get we got a big budget for our summer party from the company, in other words, the CEO. So, you'll notice this i.e. the CEO comes after the company, right?

So, this expression is telling us because it follows the word the company that another way to understand the company in this case is the CEO. So, what is the sentence really saying? The sentence is saying, yes, we received a big budget

or a lot of money for our company party, right? It came from the company. What we really want to say is the CEO of our company gave us the budget for the party. So, we can do this with i.e.

So, we say it in one way here and we say it in another way with i.e. So, this is kind of a common example of how we can use i.e. to make something a little more specific or to make

the definition a little more narrow or just to express things in a slightly different way. So, let's take a look at another example of this. Here. He received a package from a secret admirer, i.e.

his wife. So, again, we have this i.e. after this noun phrase, a secret admirer. So, a secret admirer is usually like a mysterious person, someone special that's trying to be secret.

But, we can also use this just to be kind of cute, right? So, if you are married, you might call yourself someone's secret admirer even though it's not a secret anymore. So, in this case, the sentence is made to sound

a little mysterious. He received a package from a secret admirer, like a secret love kind of thing. But, we make this clear with i.e. In other words, his wife.

So, we follow this again, I'm sorry, we follow a secret admirer with the alternative way of explaining or understanding the concept. So, these are just a couple of different ways that we use this i.e.