{"id":1672,"date":"2014-10-15T13:53:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T19:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1672"},"modified":"2021-07-04T10:31:29","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T15:31:29","slug":"all-about-etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/all-about-etc\/","title":{"rendered":"All About etc.<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

The abbreviation\u00a0etc<\/em>. is from the Latin\u00a0et cetera<\/em>, which means \u201cand other things.\u201d It appears at the end of a list when there is no point in giving more examples. Writers use it to say, \u201cAnd so on\u201d or \u201cI could go on\u201d or \u201cYou get the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

In American English,\u00a0etc.<\/em>\u00a0ends in a period, even midsentence. It is traditionally enclosed in commas when it doesn\u2019t end a sentence, but nowadays the comma that follows\u00a0etc.<\/em> is disappearing. The 1979 edition of Strunk and White\u2019s The Elements of Style<\/em> insists that etc<\/em>. be followed by a comma:\u00a0Letters, packages, etc., should go here<\/em>. But Bryan A. Garner\u2019s 1998 edition of A Dictionary of Modern American Usage<\/em> advises against a following comma, saying it is \u201cmore logical\u201d to omit it:\u00a0Carrots, potatoes, broccoli, etc. have the advantage of being vegetables.<\/em>\u00a0Garner\u2019s point is that if we replaced\u00a0etc.<\/em>\u00a0with something like\u00a0and celery<\/em> we would not follow\u00a0celery<\/em>\u00a0with a comma.<\/p>\n

All authorities agree that\u00a0etc<\/em>. is out of place in formal writing.\u00a0The Chicago Manual of Style<\/em>\u00a0says that\u00a0etc<\/em>. \u201cshould be avoided, though it is usually acceptable in lists and tables, in notes, and within parentheses.\u201d John B. Bremner\u2019s\u00a0Words on Words<\/em>\u00a0says, \u201cUse it informally, if you really must.\u201d Theodore M. Bernstein\u2019s\u00a0The Careful Writer<\/em>\u00a0says the term \u201chas no place in writing that has any literary pretensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do not use\u00a0etc<\/em>. with a \u201clist\u201d that gives only one example; there should be at least two items listed. And never use\u00a0etc<\/em>. at the end of a series that begins with\u00a0for example, e.g., including, such as<\/em>, and the like, because these terms make\u00a0etc.<\/em>\u00a0redundant: they already imply that the writer could offer other examples.<\/p>\n

Every so often you\u2019ll see\u00a0and etc.<\/em>\u00a0But\u00a0et\u00a0<\/em>means \u201cand,\u201d so\u00a0and etc.<\/em>\u00a0would mean \u201cand and so on.\u201d Also to be avoided is\u00a0etc., etc.<\/em>, because why do that, why do that?<\/p>\n

Since\u00a0cetera\u00a0<\/em>means \u201cother things,\u201d\u00a0etc<\/em>. should not be used when listing persons. For that, we have\u00a0et al<\/em>. (note the period), from the Latin\u00a0et alii<\/em>, meaning \u201cand other people\u201d:\u00a0The Romantic poets Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, et al., strove to capture man\u2019s mystic relationship with nature<\/em>.<\/p>\n

All the rules for\u00a0etc<\/em>. apply to\u00a0et al<\/em>., including its unsuitability for serious writing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fix what needs fixing. Answers are below.<\/p>\n

1. The collection includes precious gemstones such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, etc.<\/p>\n

2. All our favorite characters, Jimmy, Slick Sam, Annie from Miami, etc., were at the party.<\/p>\n

3. People love to watch the award shows (the Academy Awards, etc.) and try to guess who will win.<\/p>\n

4. Many regard fine literature\u2014novels, essays, poetry, etc\u2014as essential to a useful life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. The collection includes precious gemstones such as diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.\u00a0OR<\/strong>\u00a0The collection includes precious gemstones: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, etc. (Never use\u00a0etc.<\/em>\u00a0at the end of a list introduced by\u00a0such as<\/em>)<\/p>\n

2. All our favorite characters, Jimmy, Slick Sam, Annie from Miami, et al., were at the party. (Do not use\u00a0etc.<\/em>\u00a0to refer to humans)<\/p>\n

3. People love to watch the award shows (the Academy Awards, the Grammys, etc.) and try to guess who will win. (Do not use\u00a0etc.<\/em>\u00a0after only one example)<\/p>\n

4. Many regard fine literature\u2014novels, essays, poetry, etc.\u2014as essential to a useful life. (In American English, do not use\u00a0etc.<\/em>\u00a0without a period)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The abbreviation\u00a0etc. is from the Latin\u00a0et cetera, which means \u201cand other things.\u201d It appears at the end of a list when there is no point in giving more examples. Writers use it to say, \u201cAnd so on\u201d or \u201cI could go on\u201d or \u201cYou get the idea.\u201d In American English,\u00a0etc.\u00a0ends in a period, even midsentence. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,10,12,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abbreviations","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-periods"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5111,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1672\/revisions\/5111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}