Let’s look at another installment of Word Knots, where we discuss common instances of words and phrases that are often confused or misused. In this installment and the next we’ll look at abbreviations that are often confused.

Our source for this installment is The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske (Chicago: Writer’s Digest Books). This is a great book to browse: I highly recommend it.

We avoid taking a stern ‘grammar police’ approach: we always try to simply point out examples of semantic confusion that should be considered “must to avoid.”

From Fiske:

et al.

Misused for etc.

As Fiske says:

Et al. means “and other people”; etc. means “and other things.”

■

This error usually occurs due to an unawareness of what these abbreviations actually mean, and their derivation. 

Let’s look at the most relevant Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary definitions:

et al.

abbreviation

2  : and others

etc.

abbreviation

et cetera—sometimes used especially formally to shorten a letter-closing formula

This is an abbreviation of the Latin et alli (masculine plural) and et aliae (feminine plural), or et alia (neuter plural).

Origin of ie: Latin exempli gratia

et cetera

noun

: and others especially of the same kind : and so on : and so forth

Origin of et cetera: Latin 

■

I must say that M-W’s definition if “et cetera” isn’t particularly helpful. I find Fiske’s explanations of et al. and etc. much more clear. Use “et al.” for people and “etc.” for things.

In published work, “et al.” will most often come up in citations or references, when multiple authors are involved, but only the first one is listed.

Let’s look at examples of each.

The findings of Smith et al. were inconclusive.

The bakery featured all of the usual fare: donuts, cakes, muffins, etc.

When using either “et al.” or “etc.” note that the punctuation style (whether periods are used) may vary depending on the publisher. I endorse using periods, as throughout this post. Also, note that in most contexts a comma after “et al.” is unnecessary, but punctuation after “etc.” is.

Precision matters: Paying attention to details will separate your work from the pack.

Like this post? Follow Virtus Publishing on LinkedIn!