These are the commonly used proofreading symbols.

The use of almost all proofreading symbols follows the same pattern. There is a mark in the margin, along with specific details about the change that should be made, and a mark in the text showing where those instructions should be implemented.

The full set of proofreading marks is defined by British Standard BS 5261 and further information can be obtained from the BSI

Our experience tells us that the best way to learn the proofreading marks is to use them — that's far better than trying to simply memorise them in the abstract. Proofread a few documents with a copy of the marks at your side and look up the right proofreading symbol each time you need to mark up an error. By the time you've marked up a few documents, you'll have identified those proofreading marks that you're likely to use and will have started to memorise them without having to make a conscious effort.

Remember, when all else fails, you can simply put a circle around the text that needs to be altered and put instructions in the margin detailing what should be done.

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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		under the characters to be left as they were.
Remove all these non-textual marks		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 the margin	The mark in the copy
Text to be inserted	The text and then
Additional text supplied separately	A letter in a diamond identifying the supplied text, e.g.
Delete character		through the character
Delete text		through the text
Delete character and close space		through the character
Delete text and close space		through the text
Character to replace marked character	The new character	through the character
Text to replace marked text	The new text	through the text

Proofreading symbols for changing the look of the text

The instruction	The mark 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		under the characters to be changed
Remove italic, replace with upright		Circle round character(s) to be changeded
Put this in capitals		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)	at insertion point or through character to be raised
Lower character(s) to subscript	Above character(s)	at insertion point or through character to be lowered

Proofreading symbols for punctuation

The instruction	The mark the margin	The mark in the copy
Comma		at insertion point or through character to be changed
Full stop		As above
Semi-colon		As above
Colon		As above
Apostrophe		As above
Single quote mark(s)	or	As above
Double quote marks	or	As above
Ellipsis		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 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	If it is not a single space, give size	Insert between the characters
Insert space between words	If it is not a single space, give size	Insert between the words
Reduce space between characters	Specify size of space	Insert between the characters
Reduce space between words	Specify size of space	Insert between the words
Remove space
Insert space between lines	The mark starts in the margin and extends between the lines. If it is not a single line-space, give size
Remove space between lines	The mark starts in the margin and extends between the lines

For more information about our proofreading courses, please see the Proofreading training page and, for rates and more general information, please visit the "About Us" page.