I. GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS II. WORDING III. CONTENT IV. OTHER

I. GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS

A - Abbreviation inappropriate

AGR - Agreement Error. Agreement of subjects and verbs or pronouns or antecedents is incorrect. This serious error indicates that the writer does not have control of sentence sense.

CAP - Incorrect Capitalization. Capitalization is incorrect. (May also be indicated by a slash or triple underline)

CX - Contraction. Contractions are inappropriate in formal writing because they are used to indicate conversational dialogue.

FP - Faulty Parallelism. Ideas or grammatical structures are not parallel.

IR - Indefinite Reference. You are using "this," "it," or "they" to refer to a whole idea or to some unclear person or thing. This error occurs frequently in student writing and is a real barrier to clear communication. Avoid using "This" as the subject of a sentence; make sure all pronouns have clear antecedents or use a noun instead. Replace the indefinite pronoun with a concrete, exact noun or fuller explanation.

M - Marking Titles. The titles of stories and poems are marked with quotations and title of books and plays are underlined.

MM - Misplaced Modifier. You should place modifying words, phrases or clauses as close as possible to the words they modify. Misplaced modifiers cause confusing, illogical, or awkward sentences.

O - Omit Word. Omit the word, phrase, or sentence; unnecessary or irrelevant.

OC - Omit Conjunction. Do not begin sentences with AND, BUT, FOR, or SO.

P - Punctuation error. I will usually circle where the punctuation is incorrect or where it needs to be added.

PV - Point of View. Select an appropriate voice for writing. Avoid using I, We, You, or One in formal essays. Avoid shifts in point of view.

RO / RS - Run-On Sentence. A run-on sentence runs two sentences together as if they were one, usually omitting all punctuation.

CS - Comma Splice. A comma splice is a type of run-on that uses a comma alone to punctuate a compound sentence. You can use a period, a semicolon, or a comma with a conjunction to separate the thought into two sentences.

SF - Sentence Fragment. A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence.

SI - Split Infinitive. Do not separate the two parts of an infinitive with another words: "to go quickly" NOT "to quickly go."

SP - Spelling Error. Often I simply circle the word or the part misspelled.

VT - Verb Tense. Maintain logical sequence of verb tense. Use present tense in discussing what happens in a literary selection. In a passage of writing, keep the tense sequence logical.

WO - Word Omitted. A word necessary for sentence sense has been left out.

V - Voice Error. You should change from passive to active voice.

II. WORDING

AP - Appropriate Style. Maintain a level of language usage and mood that is appropriate to the writing task you have been assigned. Do not switch styles inappropriately.

AWK - Awkward. The way you have worded your sentence is unusually unclear, ineffective, or inappropriate.

BD - Break Down. Your sentence is too long and drawn out. You need to divide it into reasonable separate sentences.

CB - Combine Sentences. Combine the marked sentences to show the relationship of ideas, to create sentence variety, and to avoid choppy sentences.

CH - Cliché. The word or phrase you have chosen has become trite and your meaning can be better communicated through rewording your point. Using quotation marks does not make a cliché O.K.!

CL - Clarity. Effort is required for me to decipher your meaning; your expression of your idea is not clear. You should work on a rewording of the sentence in order to express yourself with more precision, accuracy, and effectiveness.

D - Diction or
WC - Word Choice. The word or phrase you have chosen is inappropriate in style, form, or meaning. A better word choice is possible.

SU - Show Understanding. (Usually found on vocab. assignments). Your sentences are not clear enough to demonstrate your full understanding of the words.

UG - Usage. Words have been used incorrectly - check part of speech and/or connotations.

VS - Vary Sentence Styles. You have lapsed into repeating the same sentence style (usually beginning with the subject). Revise to provide variety and interest.

WDY - Wordy or
E - Exactness. There are far too many words in the sentence. Your idea can be expressed much more clearly by eliminating words. Change clauses to phrases, phrases to single words, and reduce the words to the absolute essentials for expressing your idea.

III. CONTENT

AI - Accurate Information. Your sentence either represents a misreading of the material you are writing about or you are not using accurate information in the sentence.

AN - Analysis or
SIG - Significance. Explain how the example, quotation, etc. relates to/supports your argument.

COH - Coherence. The ideas in your paragraph do not blend together in a logical sequence that is unified. Each sentence should flow naturally to the next and the connections between sentences should be obvious to the reader.

DEV - Development or
ELAB - Elaboration. Your paragraph lacks the development of ideas and details necessary to support your main idea. Be sure that you have thought through your ideas clearly and have stated the logical implications and related ideas that are suggested by the line of argument you have chosen. Often a particular ideas or thesis creates its own demands for development. You need to be attentive to your idea to be certain that you have followed through with the kind of development and support that the idea itself demands.

DN - Documentation Needed. You have used a source to support your statement but have not identified a page number from the source you used (in-text documentation).

EQE - Embed Quotation Effectively. A quotation which appears in your writing should be embedded in your own text - that is, you should compose a sentence and place your quotation effectively in it. Your sentence should provide a meaningful introduction to the quotation without repeating it and should make clear to the reader the significance of the quotation as a means of supporting the point you want to make. Quotations should not occupy a disproportionate amount of space in a piece of writing, for example, a 3/4 page paragraph should have no more than about one or two lines of quotation. In longer essays, longer quoted passages are appropriate.

EX - Examples. Your paragraph lacks sufficient examples and details to develop the topic sentence adequately. Be sure that you have included at least 3-6 specific reasons, explanations, examples, illustrations or quotations that support your topic sentence. If you are writing about literature, be sure that these examples help your reader understand the text with deeper insight.

GEN - Generalizing. Use specific examples with analysis instead of generally discussing your ideas.

LI - Listing. Avoid strings of examples or details.

LOG - Logic. Either your sentence or your sequence of ideas is not logical. You are making statements which are impossible or do not follow a logical sequence. Perhaps you have left out some step in a logical process and have failed to articulate that step to your reader. List the ideas, fill in logical steps, or reconsider your statement.

OBV - Obvious Statement. This statement is common sense or general knowledge that does not help your argument.

ORG - Organization. You have not selected the most effective order of presentation of your ideas in a paragraph or your paper as whole lacks a logical and effective organization. Do an outline of what you written. Is it a logical sequence? Is there a better order of presentation?

Q - Quotation. Well-selected direct quotations help support your point and provide opportunity for close analysis.

REL - Relevance. Maintain focus and avoid statements that do not relate to your paragraph's point.

REP - Repetitious. You are unnecessarily and ineffectively repeating ideas, phrases, or words.

SUM - Summary. You are retelling the story too much. Try to keep your summary to the most necessary details and devote most time and energy to analysis.

SUP - Support. You should refer to a source (text, research, interview, etc.) to support the kind of statement you are making.

TRANS - Transition. You need to create effective transition between sentences, parts of paragraph, and parts of compositions. Each sentence should connect to the next and that connection should be shown and stated clearly.

TH - Thesis Statement. The thesis is the controlling idea for the essay. This complete sentence should be clear, focused, arguable and worth proving. (TH means you have one; TH means it's unclear or missing; TH means it's a good one!)

TS - Topic Sentence. The topic sentence is the main idea of the paragraph. It should indicate the paragraph's direction and support for/connection to the thesis statement (see TH comments above).

¶ - Paragraph. A paragraph needs to begin here.

No ¶ - No Paragraph. A paragraph should not start here.

IV. OTHER

DS - Double Space. All typed writing assignments should be double spaced.

MS - Manuscript Form. You have not typed your paper in the correct form. See handout in our Writing Handbook that gives appropriate margins, placement of name, etc.

NFD - Not Following Directions. You have not handed in your paper according to teacher's directions or failed to perform some task clearly outlined for the assignment.

T - Title. The title of your paper needs to be added or changed. Don't use the title of a book or story as your title. Think of an original one. Do not underline or put quotation marks around your title. If your title includes the title of a book, story, song, etc., you should mark it accordingly.