Abbreviations for Common Comments, Errors or Suggestions
I find myself writing the same things repeatedly on writing assignments, from essays to creative writing. Instead of giving myself arthritis, I decided to come up with these abbreviations for common comments, errors and suggestions. Keep this sheet handy to help yourself decipher and correct these common trouble spots.
RO – Run-On. A run-on occurs when multiple ideas are improperly joined in a sentence. As a rule, only one idea belongs in a sentence, UNLESS it is joined by: a.) a comma and a conjunction; or b.) a semi-colon. Of course, you can always separate ideas into their own sentences with end punctuation (a period, question mark, exclamation mark, or, in some cases, close quotation marks) and a capital letter.
Ex. I realized I was falling, I put my arms forward,I am a lefty so my left hand was first to hit the bar.
Correction 1: ______
Correction 2: ______
= (Two lines under a letter) – Capitalize. The underlined letter should be capitalized. The word “I” is always capitalized, as is the first word in a sentence, proper nouns (names), all important words in a title, and the G in G-d, if you are talking about a specific diety.
/- lower case. A slash through a letter means lower case.
Indent- The arrow means that you need to indent. Indents are usually 5 spaces. They can be made with the tab key on the keyboard. Each new paragraph must be indented, as well as every time you switch speakers when writing dialogue. Do not skip lines between paragraphs.
¶ - The paragraph symbol is a backwards P with two lines through it. Every time you start writing about a new idea, or switch scenes or characters, or if a new character begins speaking, you need to start a new paragraph. Paragraphs are indented. That lets the reader know that something new is happening.
º -A little circle means something has been left out or omitted. This usually happens with punctuation.
Frag. – Fragment. A fragment is a piece sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete idea. Usually, fragments are missing a subject or a verb. You can tell you have a fragment if you read the sentence by itself, without any context around it, and it doesn’t make sense.
Ex. She was flamboyant in the way she dressed. Like an elementary school Lady Gaga.
If you came up to me in the mall and said, “She was flamboyant in the way she dressed,” I may not know who you were talking about (or maybe what ‘flamboyant’ is; look it up!), but I would understand what you were saying. If, in the same situation, you said, “Like an elementary school Lady Gaga,” I would have no idea what you were talking about. That’s because the second phrase is not a complete sentence. It is a fragment. It can be fixed by adding words that make the idea more clear, or by combining the idea to a previous or following sentence. (See Run-On)
Correction 1: ______
Correction 2: ______
T – Tense. We usually use one of three tenses: past, present and future. Though tenses can change throughout a piece, they must be consistent (stay the same) throughout a sentence (and usually throughout a paragraph, or even a passage). In other words, generally, you can’t time travel or jump around in time; it’s just too confusing for the reader and it distracts from what are trying to get across.
Am P- Ambiguous Pronoun. The pronoun usually refers to the last subject mentioned. If the same pronoun is used to refer to more than one subject, or if it is unclear to which subject the pronoun refers, the sentence needs to be reworded or restructured.
Ex. Jonah and Ari like it when he picks him up from school. They like to ride in his new car with the top down.
A- Agreement. There are two types of common agreement errors.
-#A – Agreement in number. This is when the number of subjects does not agree with the number in the pronoun used to describe them. For example: Everyone loves their mother. “Everyone” is SINGULAR (every +one = each individual one that makes up a group). “Their” is PLURAL (it is the possessive pronoun for “them”). These have to be either plural, or singular, but not both. (Example: Everyone is in awe of Ms. Richman’s wit and beauty, but not so much her modesty.)
Now you try it! What is wrong with the sentences below? Fix them!
- Nobody know the troubles I’ve seen.
- Jonah, Sarah, Ari, Leah and everybody else in the class are juggling kittens.
- Ms. Richman and Ms. Leuck are geniuses.
SVA- Subject/Verb Agreement.The subject – whom or what you are talking about- must agree with the verb, or action in the sentence, regarding the number (whether the subject and verb are singular or plural. For example: David walks to Starbucks. In this sentence, “David” is the subject; the pronoun that can be used to replace “David” is “he”, which is third person singular (“they” is third person plural); and “walks” is the third person singular form of the verb “to walk”, so “he walks” or “David walks” is correct. “David walk to Starbucks” would be incorrect, because “walk” is the plural form of the verb, as in “they walk”.
There are many rules about this. Here are five from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab:
1. When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns connected by and, use a plural verb.
Sheandher friendsareat the fair.
2. When two or more singular nouns or pronouns are connected by or or nor, use a singular verb.
The bookorthe penisin the drawer.
3. When a compound subject contains both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb.
The boyorhis friendsrunevery day.
His friendsorthe boyrunsevery day.
4. Doesn't is a contraction of does not and should be used only with a singular subject. Don't is a contraction of do not and should be used only with a plural subject. The exception to this rule appears in the case of the first person and second person pronouns I and you. With these pronouns, the contraction don't should be used.
Hedoesn'tlikeit.
Theydon'tlikeit.
5. Do not be misled by a phrase that comes between the subject and the verb. The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun or pronoun in the phrase.
Oneof the boxesisopen
The peoplewho listen to that musicarefew.
The team captain, as well as his players,isanxious.
The book, including all the chapters in the first section,isboring.
The womanwith all the dogswalksdown my street.
Wc/d – Word Choice/Diction. This means that I don’t think you are using the best word for your purposes. Sometimes that is because that particular word is overused, or I could be looking for something more precise or descriptive. This is usually more of a matter of style than grammar.
Wc/u - Word Choice/Usage. This means that you are using the word incorrectly. This happens a lot with homophones, like ‘are’ and ‘our’, or ‘were’ and ‘we’re’.
Sp.- Spelling.
NAW!- Not a word!
Awk. – Awkward. This is used when sentences or phrases do not flow clearly or logically. They need to be reworded or restructured.
VA- Vary words and phrases. There are a trillion words in the English language, each with their own sound, denotation and connotation. Use them! Repeating the same words over and over again gets boring for the reader, especially when they are in close proximity. A really good word or phrase (group of words) loses its power or uniqueness if it is repeated too often.
Rep. –Repetitive. Sometimes we repeat ourselves unconsciously. Sometimes we just say the same things in different ways to fill up space. Either way, good proofreading and editing helps us spot these things after they have been written, and careful planning and pre-writing helps us to avoid the problem altogether!
Cd or Evi – This means you are lacking concrete detail or evidence to support your claim or theory, or that your evidence is insubstantial.
Sum. – Summary. Summary is often necessary to explain things, clarify, or get everybody on the same page, but too much summary can really slow a paper down and kill the momentum of a point. Additionally, sometimes people rely on summary to fill space with a bunch of stuff we already know or that is not really relevant, instead of getting to the point. Once again,good proofreading and editing helps us spot these things after they have been written, and careful planning and pre-writing helps us to avoid the problem altogether!
Wethe- Weak Thesis. The University of North Carolina gives us these definitions of a thesis:
- tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
- is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
- directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
- makes a claim that others might dispute.
- is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.
Be sure your thesis is strong enough to support a paper.
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