(On Composition)

"'HOW CAN I KNOW WHAT I THINK TIL I SEE WHAT I SAY?'"
Graham Wallas, The Art of Thought.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Copy-Editing Abbreviations

Follow this link, as well as this other link, for a legend of the standard copy-editing symbols used in the marking of your essays

Some of the more frequently-used are the following.
  • SYN: faulty syntax
  • GR: faulty grammar
  • AWK: awkward wording or awkward expression of idea.
  • SP: faulty spelling
  • PRON: missing or faulty pronoun.
  • AGR: faulty agreement (grammar.)
  • T: incorrect tense (grammar.)
  • M: incorrect mood (grammar.)
  • //: lack of correct parallelism
  • ¶ : faulty paragraph structure
  • CAP: capitalise
  • MM: mixed metaphor
  • NO CAP: don't capitalise
  • WDY: excessive, roundabout or unhelpful wording that obscures the argument.
  • ARG: argument required.
  • DEV: faulty or missing development of the argument
  • D: faulty diction (e.g. use of jargon or informal idiom.)
  • PASS: passive (usually adjectival rather than adverbial) form
  • WC: faulty word choice
  • WW: wrong word
  • PURPLE: gradiloquent section: ornate, florid or overly-written piece of incongruous writing.
  • LITOTES: unnecessary and unhelpful use of negative construction.
  • RELEV: irrelevant remark.
  • PETITIO: a petitio principii ('begging the question')—assuming as a conclusion that which needs to be established as a premis. Often in essay argument, a statement delivered as a proof which itself is as yet unproven.
  • UNCL: unclear expression of an idea
  • ARTIC: missing or mistaken use of grammatical article.
  • REP: repetitive wording or repetition of a previously-presented idea.
  • REL: faulty relation of idea or no clear relation to surrounding idea.
  • TRUISM: statement of the obvious: unnecessary.
  • C&E: mistake between cause and effect
  • P: faulty punctuation.
  • INTROD: faulty (e.g. weak, missing or unclear) introduction of idea or item.
  • DEL: unnecessary text requiring deletion
  • PLEON: pleonasm
  • REPORT: book report--i.e. absence of argument. 
  • CIT: missing citation
  • DANGL: dangling modifier.
  • STR: faulty or absent argument structure.
  • R-O: run-on sentence.
  • FRAG: sentence fragment
  • THESIS: misplaced thesis-level sentence
  • X: false statement.
  • SS: faulty sentence structure
  • ARR: faulty arrangement of the sentences in relation to the argument.
  • INDIR: indirect expression of idea--often weak or padded syntax.
  • EVAL: an evaluative opinion of quality, in word or phrase, rather than argument.

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