Proofreading: Editing Marks

Let us take a look at some common editing
marks used in proofreading English writing.

Adding letters/words (, ^)

Consider the sentence:

 
     This is a pen.


We can add some letters to change it
to: "This is a pencil."

     This is a pen.


We can use the same mark to add words to a sentence:


  

    

    
This is a  pen.
    

    
This is a blue pen.
  


We can also use the "carrot" marks above or below the
lines to add letters/words to a sentence:

     This is a pen. 


     

Note 1: When we want to add small punctuation
marks such as periods, colons, semicolons, etc., we
circle them to distinguish them from stray marks.  For
example:



  

    

    

    

    
This is Mr. Smith.
  


A regular period mark is added (not a period with a
circle around it).

Note 2:  When we want to add a space, 
we use the "sharp" mark.  For example:


  

    

    

    

    
He likes apples a lot.
  


Removing letters/words ()

To remove the extra 'n' in this sentence, 
we use a line with a loop at the end as follows:


  

    

    

    

    
This is a pen.
  


Do not use a plain line (it has a different
meaning, see below).  We can also
use this mark to remove words from
a sentence.  For example:


  

    

    

    

    
This is a pen.
  


Note 1: To remove spaces, we 
use the "chain" mark.  For example:



  

    

    

    

    
She cannot come.
  


Replacing (removing and then adding) single letters

When we want to change a single letter, it is not
good practice to use both the remove and add marks.
That is:


     

In this case, we do the following:


  

    

    

    

    
pin
  


Switching letters/words ()

We can switch letters and words in a sentence as follows:



  

    

    

    

    
This is a blue pen.
  
  

    

    

    

    
This pen is blue.
  


Changing cases (, )

We can change lowercase letters to uppercase and 
uppercase letters to lowercase as follows:


  

    

    

    

    
November
  
  

    

    

    

    
the
 
  


Check spelling (sp)

A simple spelling error can be indicated with the 
"check spelling" mark:

     

This sentence should be corrected to:  "We study about the 
government and environment."

New paragraph ()

We use this mark when we want to start a new paragraph.
For example:


     


is rewritten as:


     We explain the procedure below.
          First, we must collect...


The beginning of a new paragraph is usually 
indented 2-5 spaces.

Ignore marks (STET)

When we want to restore edited text to its original state, 
we use the "STET" keyword.  For example:

     

Here, we should ignore the mark to remove "wonderfully"
(i.e., the sentence stays in its original form: "He was a 
wonderfully fine boy.").