A guide to your teacher's feedback: common abbreviations defined

English grammar

Red Pen.jpg

If you are a student, you have probably seen a fair share of markings on your papers to indicate errors or ideas for improvement. If you are a teacher, you have made many of these markings and know how important it is to streamline the correcting process. While individual teachers or editors may have their own systems of signaling suggestions in writing, the language of editing and proofreading comprises many abbreviations that generally convey a universal meaning.

Below are some of the most common abbreviations used in proofreading, what they mean, and how to fix the errors they identify.

Agr:

short for agreement. This refers to subject-verb agreement and means that the verb form as written does not align with the corresponding subject or pronoun. For example: Only one of the students were happy. (The correct sentence would be: Only one of the students was happy. "One "is a singular third person subject.) 

Awk: 

short for awkward wording. This usually refers to word order or to the way a phrase sounds. Consider breaking up the sentence to make it more concise or rendering the awkward expression in different, more straightforward language.

For example: We had bought extra food for the party that cost more than we expected and was not necessary in the end. (It is unclear whether the cost and inconvenience conveyed refers to the food or the party. A clearing wording would be: We had bought extra food for the party just in case, but the food cost more than we expected and was not necessary in the end.)

Cap:

stands for capitalization, used to indicate that a word is incorrectly capitalized or that a lowercase word should be capitalized. For example:

The people in Italy speak italian.

The People in Italy speak Italian.

Dict:

stands for diction. This refers to a misuse of diction, or incorrect word choice. For example: If we pass the test depends on the fact of whether or not we studied. A correct sentence would be: Whether or not we pass the test depends on how much we studied.

Frag:

stands for fragment. This points out a stand-alone phrase that is not a complete sentence. For example: Regardless of how well I do on the test.

P/A: 

stands for pronoun antecedent agreement. This refers to a pronoun that does not agree with the subject it represents because of the person and/or number. For example: A good student always studies for their tests. ("A good student" is a third person singular subject, whereas "their" is the third person plural possessive pronoun).

Pron:

short for pronoun. Not substantially different from the preceding example, this refers to any incorrect pronoun usage. For example: You and your brother are responsible for their actions. (It should be "your actions".)

Rep:

means repetition when a phrase or word is redundant. For example:

Chocolate is my favorite flavor because I like it the most.

The woman appeared nervous in appearance.

RO (or R-O)­:

stands for run-on sentence. A run-on sentence is a sentence that has multiple independent clauses without connecting conjunctions or commas. For example: The kids ran around the playground then they splashed each other with water. Fix this by breaking the run-on sentence into two sentences, combining the independent clauses with correct punctuation, or removing one of the subjects to create a dependent clause. For example, potential alternatives to the above sentence would be:

The kids ran around the playground. Then they splashed each other with water.

The kids ran around the playground and then splashed each other with water.

The kids ran around the playground before splashing each other with water.

The kids ran around the playground, and then they splashed each other with water.

Sp:

short for spelling. This means there is a misspelled word. 

STET:

Latin for Let it stand. This is a note from the proofreader to the writer to ignore a previously suggested correction, to let the text stand as it originally was written.

SV: 

stands for subject verb. This is the same as Agr and means there is an error in the subject verb agreement. For example: The boys in the class is tall.

T (or VT):

stands for verb tense. This means that a verb tense is not consistent with the context or with a surrounding verb. For example: Before the boy washed his face, he brushes his teeth.

Correct versions would be:

Before the boy washes his face, he brushes his teeth.

Before the boy washed his face, he brushed his teeth. 

WW: 

stands for wrong word. This indicates that there is a more appropriate or accurate word to choose to convey the writer's intended meaning.

For example: The girl had to choose from opulent opportunities for her internship.

A better word would be one of the following: The girl had to choose from numerous/many/abundant opportunities for her internship.

Another example: Their were a lot of people at the party.

Correct word: There were a lot of people at the party.

For more examples of proofreading abbreviations, symbols and examples, see the following sites:

Capital Community College Common Proofreading Symbols

Novella Abbreviations and Symbols for Editing and Proofreading

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills MCAT medical school admissions SAT expository writing college admissions English MD/PhD admissions strategy writing LSAT GMAT GRE physics chemistry math biology graduate admissions academic advice ACT interview prep law school admissions test anxiety language learning premed MBA admissions career advice personal statements homework help AP exams creative writing MD study schedules test prep computer science Common Application summer activities history mathematics philosophy organic chemistry secondary applications economics supplements research 1L PSAT admissions coaching grammar law psychology statistics & probability legal studies ESL CARS SSAT covid-19 dental admissions logic games reading comprehension engineering USMLE calculus PhD admissions Spanish mentorship parents Latin biochemistry case coaching verbal reasoning DAT English literature STEM excel medical school political science skills AMCAS French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity chinese letters of recommendation Anki DO Social Advocacy admissions advice algebra art history artificial intelligence astrophysics business cell biology classics diversity statement gap year genetics geometry kinematics linear algebra mechanical engineering mental health presentations quantitative reasoning study abroad technical interviews time management work and activities 2L DMD IB exams ISEE MD/PhD programs Sentence Correction adjusting to college algorithms amino acids analysis essay athletics business skills careers cold emails data science dental school finance first generation student functions graphing information sessions international students internships logic networking poetry resume revising science social sciences software engineering tech industry trigonometry writer's block 3L AAMC Academic Interest EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD MMI Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases active learning architecture argumentative writing art art and design schools art portfolios bacteriology bibliographies biomedicine brain teaser campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets central limit theorem centrifugal force chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service constitutional law consulting cover letters curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism escape velocity evolution executive function freewriting genomics harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law immunology induction infinite institutional actions integrated reasoning intermolecular forces intern investing investment banking lab reports linear maps mandarin chinese matrices mba medical physics meiosis microeconomics mitosis mnemonics music music theory nervous system neurology neuroscience object-oriented programming office hours operating systems

Related Content