Instructor's Copy-Editing Key

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: incorrect spelling
• PRON: missing or faulty pronoun.
• AGR: faulty agreement (grammar.)
• T: incorrect tense (grammar.)
• M: incorrect mood (grammar.)
• //: lack of correct parallelism
• INTENS: unnecessary intensifier (a form of D)
• ¶ : faulty paragraph structure
• CAP - NO CAP: faulty capitalisation
• MM: mixed metaphor
• NARR: narration in place of analysis or argument
• 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: no clear relevancy.
• 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 or no thesis statement found
• X: false statement.
• SS: faulty sentence structure
• NON SEQ: non sequitur--absense of logical connection
• 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.