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Electronic marks

Help for writers

Electronic document proofreader's marks

These changes can be marked electronically, on screen. There is no agreed standard yet but these are recognised, especially in academic and technical publications.

In-line mark

Instruction

[ab]

Faulty abbreviation

[ad]

Misuse of adjective or adverb

[agr]

Error in agreement

[appr]

Inappropriate diction

[awk]

Awkward construction

[bib]

Error in bibliography form

[B]

Bold

[br]

Set in brackets

[ca]

Error in case form

[cap]

Use capital letter

[cit]

Missing source citation
or error in form of citation

[clos]

Close up

[coh]

Coherence lacking

[con]

Be more concise

[coord]

Coordination needed or faulty

[cs]

Comma splice

[d]

Error in diction

[del]

Delete

[dev]

Inadequate development

[div]

Incorrect word division

[dm]

Dangling modifier

[emph]

Emphasis lacking or faulty

[exact]

Inexact word

[frag]

Sentence fragment

[fs]

Fused sentence

[gr]

Error in grammar

[hyph]

Error in use of hyphen

[in]

Insert in line

[inc]

Incomplete construction

[ind]

Indent

[ital]

Italicize

[lc]

Use lowercase letter

[log]

Faulty logic

[mixed]

Mixed construction

[mm]

Misplaced modifier

[mng]

Meaning unclear

[ms]

Error in manuscript form

[noP]

Merge paragraphs

[no,]

Comma not needed

[num]

Error in use of numbers

[P]

New paragraph

[Pcoh]

Paragraph not coherent

[Pdev]

Paragraph not developed

[Pun]

Paragraph not unified

[punc]

Error in punctuation

[pass]

Ineffective passive voice

[ref]

Error in pronoun reference

[repeat]

Unnecessary repetition

[rep]

Replace in line

[rev]

Revise or proofread

[rom]

Set in Roman numerals

[run-on]

Run-on (fused) sentence

[shift]

Inconsistency

[sp]

Misspelled word

[spo]

Spell out

[spec]

Be more specific

[sub]

Subscript

[subor]

Subordination needed or faulty

[sug]

Suggestion

[sup]

Superscript

[t]

Error in verb tense

[tseq]

Error in tense sequence

[tp]

Transpose

[trans]

Transition needed

[var]

Vary sentence structure

[vb]

Error in verb form

[w]

Wordy

[ww]

Wrong word

[//]

Faulty parallelism

[#]

Insert space

[X]

Obvious error

[()]

Parentheses

[?]

Something missing

[??]

Meaning unclear

Comments and marks should be enclosed by square brackets, in bold type.

 

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