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I wrote:

As another example, suppose we want to create a pattern for the region of each product. We first identify two anchors within a product item, for example, the price and the shipping information.

Is the sentence uses "for example" correctly?

How can I relate the sentence and example in better ways?

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  • I think this for example should be okay, but out of its own context, this standalone sentence makes me think: Is the price and the shipping information one or two things? Is it (or are they) the product item or the anchors? -- I guess that you probably want to write: We first identify two anchors within a product item, for example, one anchor for the price and the other anchor for the shipping information. -- Writing the way to write is not wrong per se, imho, but your reader may understand it because of the context, not because of your sentence alone.
    – Damkerng T.
    Sep 1, 2015 at 9:39
  • "... such as the price and the shipping details" could be used there instead of "for example", especially since the sentence already begins "As another example".
    – TimR
    Sep 1, 2015 at 10:55

1 Answer 1

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Yes, the sentence is correct and readable.

Suggestions from comments

There are a few things we can do to improve the sentence. As @Damkerng T. commented we can clarify the number of things we are discussing and as @TRomano mentioned using the word example twice so close together could be replace to be more interesting or concise.

We first identify two anchors within a product item, for example, one anchor for the price and the other anchor for the shipping information.

or

Suppose we want to create a pattern for the region of each product. We first identify two anchors within a product item such as the price or the shipping details.

My Take

Your sentences prompt some questions:

  • What is the context of this? Sounds like web design using a GUI tool.
  • In that case, is pattern the correct word? Maybe template would be more correct?
  • Must I select exactly two anchors?
  • Shipping information? Maybe more specific when I think of shipping information I think of address or carrier when I think a product description would care more about item dimensions and weight.

If this is a description of making a [pattern/template depending on domain specific terms] then I would suggest some changes. If two is not an important number we could change to "common elements" to take emphasis off the number. Is it a product item or product region or something else? Maybe we should choose a word that is more general like product description since we are talking about the properties of a product.

Suppose we want to create a template for product descriptions. First we must identify common elements we would like in all product descriptions such as the price or shipping weight.

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  • Thank you, the context is web data extraction, we find patterns in similar pages. to identify one, sometimes, at least two anchors is needed to find their common ancestor or container
    – Ahmad
    Sep 3, 2015 at 6:35

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