PROOFREADERS' MARKS


 

 Symbol  Meaning  Example
 

 delete

  
 

 closed up

  
 

 delete and closed 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

  
 

 set in italic

  
 

 set in roman

  
 

 set in boldface

  
 

 hyphen

  multi–colored
 

 en dash

  1965 – 72
 

 em (or long) dash

  Now — at last! — we know

 

 superscripts or superior

  
 

 subscripts 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