How To Use Etc In A Sentence Uk

When it comes at the end of a list put a comma before it if you use the serial comma and don t if you don t use the serial comma.

How to use etc in a sentence uk. Saying something like i have to do the dishes wash the car clean my room etc etc etc before the party is never correct. And other similar things. Examples of et cetera usage less work peter offered cheerily. We won t get into the serial comma issue here when it s in the middle of the sentence it doesn t need to be followed by a comma. And etc is best avoided too if you can.

Abbreviation for et cetera. It is used to avoid giving a complete list. We have a constant battle against garden pests such as slugs snails greenfly blackfly etc. Though some people think it s cute to use etc more than once in a sentence to stress the fact that many additional items are needed just one etc will suffice. If the dog s imaginary i mean.

Do not use etc more than once in a sentence. We saw lots of lions tigers elephants etc. Salinger franny and zooey. Not so much grooming feeding et cetera meg rosoff just in case i love you to pieces distraction etc j d. If it is at the end of the sentence.

Words like including include or among others make for clearer sentences. The actions we re taking include a b and c is better than we re doing a b c etc leave out the latin abbreviations and your writing will be every bit as precise as if you had used them and you ll probably communicate your message more effectively.