Guide to Proofreading Marks

Margin Markup Meaning Example
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 æ)
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.
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