symbols

Common Proofreading Symbols

Symbol	Meaning	Example
	insert a comma
	apostrophe or single quotation mark
	insert something
	use double quotation marks
	use a period here
	delete
	transpose elements
	close up this space
	a space needed here
	begin new paragraph
	no paragraph

Common Proofreading Abbreviations

(The abbreviation would appear in the margin,
probably with a line or arrow pointing to the offending element.)

Abbreviation	Meaning	Example
Ab	a faulty abbreviation	She had earned a Phd along with her M.D.
Agr See also P/A and S/V	agreement problem: subject/verb or pronoun/antecedent	The piano as well as the guitar need tuning. The student lost their book.
Awk	awkward expression or construction	The storm had the effect of causing millions of dollars in damage.
Cap	faulty capitalization	We spent the Fall in Southern spain.
CS	comma splice	Raoul tried his best, this time that wasn't good enough
DICT	faulty diction	Due to the fact that we were wondering as to whether it would rain, we stayed home.
Dgl	dangling construction	Working harder than ever, this job proved to be too much for him to handle.
- ed	problem with final -ed	Last summer he walk all the way to Birmingham.
Frag	fragment	Depending on the amount of snow we get this winter and whether the towns buy new trucks.
| |	problem in parallel form	My income is bigger than my wife.
P/A	pronoun/antecedent agreement	A student in accounting would be wise to see their advisor this month.
Pron	problem with pronoun	My aunt and my mother have wrecked her car The committee has lost their chance to change things. You'll have to do this on one's own time.
Rep	unnecessary repetition	The car was blue in color.
R-O	run-on sentence	Raoul tried his best this time that wasn't good enough.
Sp	spelling error	This sentence is flaude with two mispellings.
- s	problem with final -s	He wonder what these teacher think of him.
STET	Let it stand	The proofreader uses this Latin term to indicate that proofreading marks calling for a change should be ignored and the text as originally written should be "let stand."
S/V	subject/verb agreement	The problem with these cities are leadership.
T	verb tense problem	He comes into the room, and he pulled his gun.
Wdy	wordy	Seldom have we perused a document so verbose, so ostentatious in phrasing, so burdened with too many words.
WW	wrong word	What affect did the movie have on Sheila? She tried to hard to analyze its conclusion.

Some Online Aids on Proofreading and Editing

    Editing and Rewriting (from the Guide to Grammar and Writing)
    "Revising Your Writing" from Paradigm
    "Editing Your Writing" from Paradigm
    Proofreading Strategies — from Bowling Green University


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PROOFREADERS' MARKS

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Symbol	Meaning				Example
	delete
	close up
	delete and close up
	caret
	insert a space
	space evenly
	let stand
	transpose
	used to separate two or more marks and often as a concluding stroke at the end of an insertion
	set farther to the left
	set farther to the right
	set as ligature (such as )
	align horizontally
	align vertically
	broken character
	indent or insert em quad space
	begin a new paragraph
	spell out
	set in CAPITALS
	set in SMALL CAPITALS
	set in lowercase
	set in italic
	set in roman
	set in boldface
	hyphen				multi-colored
	en dash				1965–72
	em (or long) dash				Now—at last!—we know.
	superscript or superior
	subscript or inferior
	centered
	comma
	apostrophe
	period
	semicolon
	colon
	quotation marks
	parentheses
	brackets
	query to author: has this been set as intended?
	push down a work-up
	turn over an inverted letter
	wrong font

¹The last three symbols are unlikely to be needed in marking proofs of photocomposed matter.