Common proofreading marks

Notation	Name		Descriptions / Examples			Revision Options
Box around coordinating conjunction at the beginning of a sentence	Sentence Fragment		Sentence started with a coordinating conjunction “He was up all night. And he wasn’t very tired.”			a. Remove coordinating conjunction; capitalize as needed “He wasn’t very tired.” b. Drop case of coordinating conjunction and link to previous sentence if applicable “He was up all night and he wasn’t very tired.”
“C.S.” located near a circled comma	Comma Splice		Two or more independent clauses connected by a comma: “We went to the game, we had a good time.”			a. Add coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) after comma (either retaining or removing comma) “We went to the game, and we had a good time.” b. Remove comma and insert period “We went to the game. We had a good time.” c. Remove comma and insert semi-colon (perhaps followed by conjunctive adverb and a comma) “We went to the game; indeed, we had a good time.”
¶	Paragraph Mark		1. New paragraph not yet indented 2. Suggested place for new paragraph			Indent one tab to the right
[ ]	Sentence Fragment		Square brackets surrounding a phrase or a dependent clause posing as a complete sentence Ex.1. “Leaving before the show ended.” Ex.2. “The guy with the brown hair.”			a. Use current verb and add a subject and appropriate auxiliary verb Ex.1. “They were leaving before the show ended.” b. Use current phrase as the subject and add a verb Ex.1. “Leaving before the show ended caused them to miss your part.” Ex.2. “The guy with the brown hair asked me out.” c. Use current phrase as the object and add a subject and verb either before or after Ex.1. “They hated leaving before the show ended.” Ex.2. “I went out with the guy with the brown hair.” Ex.1. “Leaving before the show ended, they didn’t see your part.”
“Fused” located near two consecutive circled words	Fused Sentence		Two or more consecutive independent clauses without any punctuation: “We went to the game we had a good time.”			a. Add a coordinating conjunction between the end of the first independent clause and the beginning of the second (with or without a comma before the conjunction) “We went to the game, and we had a good time.” b. Add a period at the end of the first independent clause and capitalize the next word as the beginning of a new sentence “We went to the game. We had a good time.” c. Insert semi-colon (perhaps followed by conjunctive adverb and a comma) “We went to the game; indeed, we had a good time.”
? “unclear” “awkward”	Coherence		Sentence construction is not easily understandable			Revise as necessary
Line connecting circled subject and circled verb s/v	Agreement		Related subject and verb must agree in number Ex.1. “They goes to school on the bus.”			a. Change the verb to agree with the subject “They go to school on the bus.” b. Change the subject to agree with the verb “He goes to school on the bus.”
Line connecting circled pronoun and circled antecedent p/a	Agreement		Related pronoun and antecedent must agree in (a.) person and (b.) number Ex.1. “When a person comes to class, you should have your homework ready.” Ex.2. “Everyone needs to bring their books to school.”			a. Change the pronoun to agree in person with the antecedent Ex.1. “When a person comes to class, he or she should have his homework ready.” b. Change the pronoun to agree in number with the antecedent Ex. 2. “Everyone needs to bring his or her books to school.”
“POV” Line connecting pronouns in related sentences	Point of View		Narrative voice switches illogically among 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd person point of view “Students receive so much homework and you don’t know how to handle it.”			Change the pronouns so they are in agreement “Students receive so much homework and they don’t know how to handle it.”
“TS” located near line connecting two or more circled verbs	Tense Shift		Verb tense switches illogically among past, present or future “I walked into the room and take a seat.”			Change the verbs so they logically agree in tense “I walked into the room and took a seat.”
“Case” written above circled pronoun	Pronoun Case		Subjective or objective pronoun case used incorrectly “He brought his car for she and I to use.”			Change the pronoun so the correct case is used “He brought his car for her and me to use.”
Transposition line identifying a word located between “to” and the base verb form	Split Infinitive Verb		A word appeared inappropriately within an infinitive verb form “She seemed to quickly take her seat.”			Relocate the word either in front of the infinitive verb phrase or closer to the end of the sentence “She seemed quickly to take her seat.” “She seemed to take her seat quickly.”
Line beneath single letter	Capitalization		1. Incorrectly used capitalization 2. Absent capitalization where needed “My Mother bought me a toyota supra last Spring.”			1. Drop the capital letter and replace with lower case “My mother bought me a Toyota Supra last spring.”
“DM”	Dangling modifier		Phrase appears to modify the incorrect part of the sentence “Having finished our work, the game was begun.”			Change the word or phrase being modified “Having finished our work, we began to play a game.”
Circled comma Ex. S,V or SV,V	Comma Usage		Incorrect or inappropriate comma usage			Revise as necessary
“Poss”	Possessive Pronoun		1. Inappropriate spelling, punctuation, or use of a possessive pronoun “Since I had no car, I borrowed thiers, but their’s isn’t as good as yours car.” 2. Absence of possessive pronoun where needed “He enjoyed you sharing some of that cake.”			1. Revise as necessary “Since I had no car, I borrowed theirs, but theirs isn’t as good as your car.” 2. Insert as necessary “He enjoyed your sharing some of that cake.”
( “ ” )	Quotation Marks		1. Incorrect or inappropriate use of quotation marks “Since I’m finished, he said, I’ll help clean up.” 2. Incorrect punctuation related to quotation marks “Since I’m finished”, he said, “I’ll help clean up”.			Revise as necessary “Since I’m finished,” he said, “I’ll help clean up.”
( ’ )	Apostrophe		1. Incorrect use of apostrophe for contraction or possession “She did’nt have her own car, so she needed your’s.”			Revise as necessary “She didn’t have her own car, so she needed yours.”
( ; )	Semi-colon		Incorrect or inappropriate use of semi-colon “She needed help; so she asked you.”			Revise as necessary “She needed help, so she asked you.”
“WC”	Word Choice		Incorrect or inappropriate word choice “His car is more speedy than mine.”			Revise as necessary “His car is speedier than mine.”
“Usage”	Usage		Incorrect or inappropriate diction or usage “They’re bed is to soft so I’m laying on the sofa.”			Revise as necessary “Their bed is too soft so I’m lying on the sofa.”
( / )	Connected Words		Incorrect connection of two words into one “He accidentally took apart of the game with him.”			Separate the word into its parts “He accidentally took a part of the game with him.”
Arc connecting two consecutive words	Separated Word		Incorrect separation of one word into two or more parts “He can join us when ever he would like.”			Connect the parts to form one word “He can join us whenever he would like.”
“Redun”	Redundancy		Unnecessary repetition or restating of information “He entered into the room.”			Revise as necessary “He entered the room.”
“sp”	Spelling		Incorrect spelling of a word “He asked the secretery for assistence.”			Revise as necessary “He asked the secretary for assistance.”
Definitions
Subject	The subject of a clause is the thing or person that performs the action.
Verb	The verb of a clause is the action performed by the subject.
Object	The object of a clause is the recipient or result of the action performed by the subject.
Pronoun	A word that is used in place of a noun or noun phrase.
Antecedent	That word or phrase earlier in the sentence which the subsequent pronoun renames.
Independent Clause	An independent clause (IC) is a group of words that contains a subject and verb, expressing a complete thought. An independent clause can exist as a sentence.
Dependent Clause	A dependent clause (DC) is a group of words that may contain a subject and / or a verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence.
Coordinating Conjunctions	A coordinating conjunction joins two or more words, phrases or clauses of equal rank. The seven coordinating conjunctions can be remembered easily with the acronym FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
Subordinating Conjunctions	A subordinating conjunction (also called a subordinator) is used at the beginning of a subordinate clause (a clause that requires other information to create a complete sentence). The subordinator establishes a relationship between the dependent (subordinate) clause and the rest of the sentence. Note: sometimes a word (such as “after”) can be both a subordinating conjunction (“After we finish dinner, . . . ”) and a preposition (“After dinner, . . . ”).
	after although as as [far/soon] as as if as though	because before even if even though how if		inasmuch as in case [that] in order that insofar as in that lest	no matter how now that once provided [that] since so that		supposing [that] than that though till unless	until when, whenever where, wherever whether while
Conjunctive Adverbs	A conjunctive adverb is an adverb that connects independent clauses. Often, but not always, they require semi-colons. They can be confused with coordinating conjunctions. One key distinction is that conjunctive adverbs do not necessarily join clauses of equal rank. Also, conjunctive adverbs do not always serve as linking devices, in that they can be used for emphasis: “I will not, however, give you more money.”
	also anyway consequently finally	furthermore hence however		incidentally indeed instead likewise	meanwhile moreover nevertheless		next nonetheless otherwise still	then therefore thus
Auxiliary Verbs	Auxiliary verbs or helping verbs are used with main verbs to express variations of time and mood. The combination of auxiliary verbs with main verbs creates verb phrases.
	am is are was	were have has had		do does did can	could shall should will		would may might must	ought to used to need to
Transitional Phrases	Click here for a complete list