PROOFREADERS' MARKS
Symbol delete close up delete and close up caret insert a space space evenly let stand transpose used to separate two or more marks and often as a concluding stroke at the end of an insertion set farther to the left set farther to the right set as ligature (such as ) align horizontally align vertically broken character indent or insert em quad space begin a new paragraph spell out set in CAPITALS set in SMALL CAPITALS set in lowercase Meaning Example
set in italic set in roman set in boldface hyphen en dash em (or long) dash superscript or superior subscript or inferior centered comma apostrophe period semicolon colon quotation marks parentheses brackets query to author: has this been set as intended? push down a work-up turn over an inverted letter wrong font multi-colored 196572 Nowat last!we know.
Proofreading symbols for general instructions
The instruction The mark in the margin The mark in the copy
"Stet" Leave the text as it was and ignore any marks that have been made Remove all these non-textual marks
under the characters to be left as they were. Circle round marks to be removed
Query this with the author, printer or publisher
Circle round text to be queried
Proofreading symbols for inserting, deleting and changing text
The instruction The mark in the margin The mark in the copy
Text to be inserted Additional text supplied separately Delete character
The text and then A letter in a diamond identifying the supplied text, e.g. through the character through the text
Delete text
Delete character and close space
through the character
Delete text and close space text Character to replace marked character Text to replace marked text The new character
through the
through the character through the text
The new text
Proofreading symbols for changing the look of the text
The instruction
The mark in the margin
The mark in the copy
Change to the correct font
Circle round character(s) to be changed
Change this badly printed text
Circle round character(s) to be changed
Put this in italics Remove italic, replace with upright Put this in capitals
under the characters to be changed
Circle round character(s) to be changed
under the characters to be changed
Put this in small capitals
under the characters to be changed
Change to lowercase
or
Circle round character(s) to be changed
Put this in bold
under the characters to be changed
Turn this upside down
Circle round character(s) to be changed
Raise character(s) to superscript
Under character(s) Above character(s)
at insertion point or raised at insertion point or lowered
through character to be
Lower character(s) to subscript
through character to be
Proofreading symbols for punctuation
The instruction The mark in the margin The mark in the copy
Comma
at insertion point or be changed
through character to
Full stop
As above
Semi-colon
As above
Colon
As above
Apostrophe Single quote mark(s) Double quote marks Ellipsis
As above
or
As above
or
As above
As above
Dotted leader
As above
Hyphen
As above
Dash
Write the size of the dash between the uprights
As above
Solidus or slash
As above
Proofreading symbols for layout
The instruction The mark in the margin The mark in the copy
Paragraph break Remove paragraph break
Indent
Specify the size of indent
Remove indent
Justify left or right
or
or
Centre Insert space between characters Insert space between words Reduce space between characters Reduce space between words Remove space Insert space between lines Remove space between lines The mark starts in the margin and extends between the lines. If it is not a single line-space, give size The mark starts in the margin and extends between the lines
If it is not a single space, give size
Insert between the characters Insert between the words Insert between the characters Insert between the words
If it is not a single space, give size
Specify size of space
Specify size of space
