Many instructors use these abbreviations and symbols to mark errors in student papers. Refer to this chart to find out what they mean.
| Abbreviation or Symbol |
Meaning Click each item for more information in Handbook |
For more information in Quick Editing Guide |
| abbr | abbreviation | |
| adj | misuse of adjective | A7 |
| adv | misuse of adverb | A7 |
| agr | faulty agreement | A4, A6 |
| awk | awkward | |
| cap | capital letter | |
| case | error in case | A5 |
| coord | faulty coordination | |
| cs | comma splice | A2 |
| dm | dangling modifier | B1 |
| f | format (see Quick Format Guide) | |
| frag | fragment | A1 |
| fs | fused sentence | A2 |
| gl or gloss | see Glossary of Troublemakers | A |
| hyph | error in use of hyphen | |
| inc | incomplete construction | |
| irreg | error in irregular verb | A3 |
| ital | italics | |
| lc | use lowercase letter | D1 |
| mixed | mixed construction | |
| mm | misplaced modifier | B1 |
| mood | error in mood | |
| num | error in the use of numbers | |
| p | error in punctuation | C |
| pass | ineffective passive voice | |
| ref | error in pronoun reference | A6 |
| rep | careless repetition | |
| rev | revise | |
| run-on | comma splice or fused sentence | A2 |
| sp | misspelled word | D2 |
| sub | faulty subordination | |
| t or tense | error in verb tense | A3 |
| v | voice | |
| vb | error in verb form | A3 |
| wc | word choice | |
| w | wordy | |
| — ( ) [ ] … | dash, parentheses, brackets, ellipses | |
| // | faulty parallelism | B2 |
| x | obvious error |