When your instructor grades your essay, she or he may use abbreviated marginal notes to indicate the type of errors detected. Each instructor may use a different system for these notes, but here are some common ones you are likely to see.
| 1, 2 (etc.) | See a numbered note at the end of your paper or on a separate sheet. |
| ? | This passage is questionable or unclear. What do you mean here? |
| ¦ | Begin a new paragraph |
| no ¦ | Do not begin a new paragraph. (Too many short paragraphs make your essay read like a newspaper article.) |
| /A | Your capital letter here should be /A small letter. |
| awk. | Your sentence structure or syntax is awkward here. |
| colloq. | Colloquialism. The underlined word or phrase may be far out is casual spoken English. It is not acceptable in formal written English. |
| conj. | And we do not normally begin a sentence with a conjunction. |
| dang. | A dangling verb participle: one whose subject is mismatched or absent. Rushing to finish your essay, your English is left defective. |
| ex? | Can you provide an example? |
| gads! | An outrageous, unsupportable statement |
| inf. | It is seldom correct to with other words split a verb infinitive. |
| irrel. | An irrelevant statement |
| no! | This is a factual error. |
| n.s. | Non sequitur (Latin: "it does not follow"). Your conclusion does not logically follow from your premise. |
| n/s | Not a sentence |
| oh? | Can you verify this assertion? |
| passive | The verb here has been written by you in passive voice, weakening its effect. Active voice is often stronger. |
| ped. | A pedanticism, to be avoided |
| prep. | Prepositions are not usually good words to end sentences or clauses with. |
| pro.? | It is unclear to what this refers--that is, to what the underlined pronoun refers. |
| punct. | An error in punctuation |
| ramb. | Your sentence is rambling, that is, it goes on and on without any concise or centralized structure, an effect which is often the result of piling too many clauses into one sentence, and the present setence is a fine example of such a sprawling, rambling sentence. |
| see S.G. | See the Style Guide |
| source? | You must cite your source. |
| sp. | Incorrect spelling |
| sing./pl. | Your mixture of singular and plural persons produce an awkward result. |
| subj.? | What is the subject of this verb? |
| trite | A trite statement, to be avoided |
| ugh! | An inappropriate, even tasteless word or remark |
| vague | Your statment needs to be more specific. |
| v/t | You are mixing verb tenses in this passage. |
| word | Poor word choice. Are you sure you understand what this word means? |