Rw Correction Symbols g6y4f

ESL 222

Correction Symbols Guide

Wong

Correction Symbols VT

verb tense Example: Yesterday, I do my homework. “Do” is incorrect; it should be past tense “did.”

VF

verb form The verb tense is okay but the form of the verb is not. Example: I have bring a lot of new clothes. “Have bring” is the incorrect verb form. It should be “have brought.”

WW

wrong word Example: I have many thinks to do this weekend. “Thinks” is the wrong word. It should be things.

WF

word form Example: She received some beautifully roses for Valentine’s Day.” Beautifully” is an adverb, but here you need an adjective. The adjective form is “beautiful”

WO

word order The words are not in the correct position. Example: He didn’t know where was he. The words “was he” are not in the right order. The order should be changed to “he was.”

WP

wrong preposition An incorrect preposition is used or a preposition has been added when one is not needed. Example: Are you happy to attend to school? “To” is incorrect here. No preposition is needed after attend for this sentence.

#

number, singular/plural Example: Some of the student gave us some very bad advices. An –s was used to form the plural noun. “Men” is an irregular plural, so it never has an –s. “Advice” is an uncountable noun, so –s is not used on uncountable/non-count nouns.

Sp

spelling

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ESL 222

Correction Symbols Guide

Wong

Example: There are two main charaters in the movie. The correct spelling is character. TV

transitive verb The sentence needs an object after the verb. Example: Marcus wants from his parents. “Wants” is a transitive verb, so it requires a direct object. What does Marcus want from his parents? A correct answer could be Marcus wants a present from his parents.

Pron

pronoun problem Example: The boy hurt his knee when it went skateboarding. “It” is an incorrect pronoun to refer to the boy. “He” is the correct pronoun.

Coord

Coordination-coordinating conjunction missing or incorrect coordinating conjunction Two independent clauses have been ed without a coordinating conjunction or with an incorrect one. Example: It was too hot, we put on the air conditioning. In this example, we cannot two independent clauses with a comma, so we should use the conjunction “so” after the comma. Example: I really like Calvin, and I don’t like his brother. In this example, and is incorrect because the ideas of contrasting each other. The conjunction but should be used instead.

Trans

Transition-transition missing or incorrect transition Example: They will remodel their kitchen. However, they would like to get some new cabinets and a new stove. However is incorrect here because the second sentence does not contrast the ideas of the first sentence. It adds information to the first one.

Rep

Repetitive- the writing repeats the same words and/or ideas again without saying anything new

ART

article a/an/the is missing. Use a and an for non-specific countable singular nouns and the for specific singular or plural noun.

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ESL 222

Correction Symbols Guide

Wong

Example: He gave his girlfriend hug on Valentine’s Day. “Hug” is a countable singular noun here, so “a” is needed before it. SV

subject verb agreement The subject and verb do not agree. Example: Her family don’t live in the U.S. “Don’t” is the helping verb for a plural subject, but here the subject is singular. The correct verb is “doesn’t.”

Frag

fragment The sentence is not a complete thought. Example: When we ran out of soap. This is a dependent time clause and need another independent clause to complete it.

R.O.

run-on sentence There are 2 or more sentences that are not connected correctly. Example: Men like to shop quickly women like to browse and take their time. There are two independent clauses, but there is no connector or punctuation. One way to correct would be, Men like to shop quickly, but women like to browse and take their time.

C.S.

comma splice A comma is used to connect two or more independent clauses. Example: Shelley is competing in the Olympics, she expects to take the Gold for Norway. One way to correct this mistake is to put a FANBOYS after the comma. Shelley is competing in the Olympics, and she expects…

^

missing word A necessary word is missing from the sentence. Often, it could be a missing subject, missing verb, punctuation etc.

SS or Unclear

Example: In the story ^tells his wife that he loves her. A subject is missing before “tells.” Sentence structure is not clear.

Off topic

Sentences do not your topic sentence.

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ESL 222

CH

Correction Symbols Guide

Wong

coherence Ideas need to be in a logical order. A sentence needs to be moved into another place in the writing.

CO

cohesiveness Ideas need to be connected. The readers become confused because the sentences do not appear to be related to each other or there is some missing explanation.

P

punctuation A comma, period, question mark, colon, quotation marks etc. has either been used incorrectly or not used when needed. Example: I wasn’t happy, because I didn’t sleep much last night. Here, there should be no comma in the sentence.

Cap

capitalization A word should be capitalized OR a word has been incorrectly capitalized. Example: When i watch a sad movie, i cry. The pronoun “I” is always capitalized.

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