For example

[Rachel Adams]

Hello.

Is it wrong to put ''for example'' in the middle of a sentence?


''My favourite food, is for example, pizza''.

 

[Yankee]

Aside from Piscean's comma, I would not see the use of "for example", as in your example, unusual.

 

[emsr2d2]

You can have only one favourite food. If you want to use "for example", you'd have to say something like "I have a lot of favourite foods that I eat regularly. Every Tuesday, for example, I have pizza for dinner".

 

[jutfrank]

I would not see the use of "for example", as in your example, unusual.

I don't know what you mean by 'unusual'. The use of for example in the OP sentence is simply incorrect.

 

[Rachel Adams]

I don't know what you mean by 'unusual'. The use of for example in the OP sentence is simply incorrect.

I could begin it with ''for example.'' Am I right? ''For example, my favourite food is pizza.'' When I am writing a short paragraph in which I am talking about my favourite food. But isn't it uncommon to start your paragraph with a sentence like mine?

 

[Yankee]

I don't know what you mean by 'unusual'. The use of for example in the OP sentence is simply incorrect.

Why incorrect? "For example", "such as", "for instance", "believe it or not" and many other terms/phrases of that type are used in that form and context and are considered/identified as an "interrupting phrase".

 

[Rachel Adams]

What is the sentence that precedes this?

There is nothing that preceeds it. It starts a paragraph.

 

[Yankee]

By whom?

You can find numerous sources/references. Use your favorite search engine for "interrupting phrase".

 

[jutfrank]

Why incorrect? "For example", "such as", "for instance", "believe it or not" and many other terms/phrases of that type are used in that form and context and are considered/identified as an "interrupting phrase".

I wasn't referring to the use of for example as an interrupting phrase. I was thinking that the OP had misunderstood the meaning/use of the phrase.

The sentence is correct as long as there is a preceding sentence that allows it to make sense, but I don't think that's what Rachel Adams had in mind. I suspect she was trying to say that pizza is an example of her favourite food, which doesn't make sense. I might well be wrong about that, of course.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I could begin it with ''for example.'' Am I right? ''For example, my favourite food is pizza.'' When I am writing a short paragraph in which I am talking about my favourite food. But isn't it uncommon to start your paragraph with a sentence like mine?

Right. One problem is simply the construction of ''My favourite food, is for example, pizza''.

It's not good. If you remove the clause between the commas, it says "My favourite food pizza". That's not a sentence.

If you're answering the question, "What are your favourite things?" you could begin by saying, ''My favourite food, for example, is pizza''.

If the question is "What are your favourite foods?" you might start by saying, "One of my favourite foods, for example, is pizza."

 

[TheParser]

Is it wrong to put ''for example'' in the middle of a sentence?

NOT A TEACHER



Hello, Ms. Adams:


1. In post 10, you write that your sentence starts the paragraph.

a. If (if!) that paragraph is the first paragraph of an article, then I agree that it would be "wrong" to use "for example."

i. For example, suppose a friend suddenly said, "You are, for example, very beautiful." That would make no sense, unless that person had prefaced those words with, for example, "You have many outstanding qualities."