Proofing Examples
This wiki page gives examples, mostly drawn from the Discussion Forums, to supplement and clarify the Proofreading Guidelines, in much the way the Library of Formatting Examples does for the formatting guidelines.
In the remarks column of these tables, excerpts from the Guidelines (regarded as authoritative) are shown in a bold contrasting color thus. All other discussion is drawn from the forums and not every proofreader or project manager may agree. If you think something on this page is wrong, please say so on this page's talk page. And remember:
- Always read the project comments and follow what is written there, even if it is different from the Guidelines, and
- When in doubt, ask in the project discussion forum
Proofreading at the Character Level
Quotation Marks
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See the Guidelines.
Older texts sometimes use this kind of "running quotes," with a quotation mark at the beginning of each line. Remove running quotes in rewrappable text. Otherwise, when the paragraph is rewrapped, the quotation marks would end up at random spots in the final text. If the quotation started on the previous page, remove the first ' as well. If a page starts with quote marks on each line and you don't know whether to keep the first quote mark or not, leave a [**note] so that the PPer can check when the pages are joined together. The final line of the paragraph (not shown in this example) would typically have a closing quote mark in the book, which we retain like normal. Retain running quotes in poetry or other text that is not wrappable. |
| '--may God rejoice his soul; his illustrious years exceeded eighty-five, and it was the |
| 1. | 
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Guidelines for dialect:
The guidelines specify to remove space in contractions. However, it does not clarify exactly what is considered a contraction. This can be a judgment call in books with extensive dialect. It can help to ask yourself "What word is this abbreviating? Would it normally be combined with the word before or after it in speech?" In this example, "o'" is short for "of" and would typically not be combined verbally with "here" so a space should be left after the '. The "'s" that follow it are short for "as" and also would not typically be combined with "here" or "quick". Thus, the intention of the author is more appropriately retained by leaving the spacing as it appears in the image. When in doubt, matching the scan is usually safest. And it never hurts to ask the PM for guidance. |
| Before Rushy could reply, Zeph cried out, "No, no! I tell you I won't stay. Doctor, |
Dashes, Hyphens, and Minus Signs
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Guideline for spacing around dashes:
For this reason, you should close up the space between the hyphens after "theirs" and before "Well". If you feel strongly that for semantic reasons, the spacing should be retained, it would be appropriate to either leave a proofer's note suggesting that, e.g. [**space?], or ask the PM in the project discussion forum. Either way, the space should be closed up as a default, even if a note is left. You should only leave the spaces if specifically instructed by the PM to do so. |
| Why, in lots of the books, nowadays, the girls themselves cling to the men in a close embrace, or put their
| ||
| 2. | 
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Guideline for dashes used in ranges:
You should proof the plate range with a single hyphen in between VI and IX, even though in the image, the hyphen is long enough to look like it should be proofed as two hyphens. In this instance, what is important first and foremost is the meaning, which is to show a range. For ranges, we always use a single hyphen. The same logic applies to the numbers 17 and 18 in the second footnote. |
| 1 D. Hogarth, J.H.S. vol. XXII. 1902, p. 76 and plates VI[** .]-IX. 2 Op. cit. nos. 17-18, and Ann. B.S.A. VII. fig. 45. | ||
| 3. | 
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Guideline for when not to close up the space after a dash (common exception):
This is the 'common exception' referenced in the guidelines via an example. Since cane- in this instance refers to "cane-sugar" and sugar is repeated later on in the line, a space should be left after the hyphen in this instance. It is not correct to proof this as cane-and milk-sugar, with no space between the hyphen and 'and'. |
| 2 P. M. Junket with cane- and milk-sugar. 4 P. M. Oatmeal gruel, 120 c.c. (4 oz.), with milk, 60 c.c. (2 oz.). | ||
| 4. | 
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Guideline for dashes used for omitted words:
In this context, L---- is representing an omitted location and so you should leave the space after the four hyphens. There should not be a space between the L and the hyphens because in this case, L is the first letter of the omitted word. |
| Star" must not be trusted as if it told nothing but truth. Its reports were declared to be often | ||
| 5. | 
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Guideline for dashes used for omitted words:
In this context, ---- is representing an omitted name. You should leave the space before it, unlike in example 4, where L was the first letter of the omitted word. In this case, Mrs. is its own word and needs to have a space after it. No space is needed after the hyphens since it is followed by punctuation and the normal guidelines to close up spaces before punctuation apply. |
| and has no fear. If you ever find Abd el Kadir, Mrs. ----, and Captain Burton together, you will have a rare treat of conversation | ||
| 6. | 
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Guideline for dashes used for omitted words:
In this context, ---- is representing the third word of the newspaper that the man works for. This is only obvious if you look at the context of the sentence and the paragraphs around it. You need to leave the space before the hyphens in this case in order to retain the original meaning. |
| "Yes, I represent the New York ----, Would you care to see my credentials?" | ||
| 7. | 
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Guideline for dashes used in ranges:
You should proof the year range with a single hyphen in between 1688 and 1704, even though in the image, the hyphen is long enough to look like it should be proofed as two hyphens. In this instance, what is important first and foremost is the meaning, which is to show a range of years. For ranges, we always use a single hyphen. |
| eighteenth century, and again in the early nineteenth. The ministrations of the Korin school, in so far as it affected the daimio, always belonged | ||
| 8. | 
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[Different contributor:] On DP, "dash" generally means "em-dash" (which looks like "—" in web pages). An "en-dash" is a shorter dash. Modern style guidelines allow an en-dash with spaces around it (as in "word – word") as an alternative to the em-dash ("word—word"), but this variation is rarely if ever seen in older English books. Either style is proofed with two hyphens in this context.
En-dashes are used in older books, but in different contexts, in which they are always proofed as a single hyphen. The most common usage is seen in the example at left. The text "(1789-1855)" uses an en-dash, which is visibly shorter than the em-dashes above, and obviously longer than the hyphens below. |
| to the paternal farm and lived in the "old house"--a portion of which was standing until recently--where | ||
| 9. | 
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Guideline for hyphens:
Although the guidelines don't specifically mention the situation of using hyphens to represent omitted number(s), in this example, since the - is visually a hyphen, you proof it as one. In this scenario, you would not apply the rule about omitted words or names, as the typography did not use a dash to represent the omission. |
| BOSTON, July 22, 188-.
| ||
| 10. | Pending example of year with dash for omitted number | Guideline for dashes used for omitted words:
Although the guidelines don't specifically mention the situation of using dashes to represent omitted number(s), in this example, since the - is visually a dash, you proof it according to the rule about omitted words or names, as the typography used a dash to represent the omission. |
| Pending example of year with dash for omitted number | ||
| 11. | 
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DRAFT Guideline for dashes within words:
The dashes in the image are about three letters long, so proofed as two hyphens. The actual names of the people are longer than 4 letters, but the number of letters represented by the dash doesn't matter. It is the length of the dash itself in the image that matters, when determining if it is an en-dash, em-dash, or a long dash. |
| from behind a thick barrier of shrubbery.
|
| 1. | 
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Guidelines around proofreading em-dashes:
Guidelines around end-of-line em-dashes:
Based on the visual length of these dashes, you would proof each as two hyphens. You would remove the spaces on either side of them so the hyphens are right up against the words before and after. Since there are em-dashes at the end of the first line, the next word on the subsequent line, Fourth, needs to be brought up to the previous line to immediately follow the hyphen. For this same reason, Sixth has been moved from the start of the third line to the end of the second line. |
| First Topic--Second Topic--Third Topic--Fourth topic--Fifth Topic--Sixth | ||
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Guideline for end-of-page hyphenation and dashes:
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| Even this brief consideration of the social situation which has determined the Negro's attitudes towards values in
| ||
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Guideline for retaining spacing at the start and end of lines or paragraphs:
In this book, a conversation is taking place between a mother and a daughter, represented by D. or M. at the start of each paragraph. These must remain set off on their own to retain meaning. Thus, the em-dash cannot be joined to the word prior in this instance and the appropriate way to proof this is as two hyphens with a space prior. This is a less obvious application of the above rule, but you can think of it this way - the D. or M. could in theory be centered above it or off to the side like sidenotes without changing the meaning. They are not really a part of the paragraph itself. Their location at the start of the paragraph is more of a layout choice. The long dash in the paragraph preceding it does not need an asterisk, as it is at the end of the paragraph, but should be proofed with four hyphens, as it is longer. |
| D. What is Naptha, mother? I have learned from my geography that it is found M. You are right; and I need not tell | ||
| 4. | 
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Guideline for dashes used in ranges:
For this reason, you should proof the temperature range with a single hyphen in between 12° and 15°, even though in the image, the hyphen is long enough to look like it should be proofed as two hyphens. In this instance, what is important first and foremost is the meaning, which is to show a range. For ranges, we always use a single hyphen. Guideline for end/start of paragraph hyphens:
Note that you do not need an asterisk after the hyphens at the end of the paragraph, and you do not need to join the subsequent line to it. Guideline for end of line, mid-word hyphenization:
Note that north-*east should be proofed with a hyphen in between and no asterisk only if the proofer is absolutely confident that the word is always proofed as hyphenated in this book. Typically you would proof it that way if the same word was present in that complete fashion elsewhere on the page. If there is any doubt or inconsistency, the safest way to proof it is as a -*, as is done in this example. |
| the mid-stream, we took the left to avoid driftwood, and we bumped like the bucking of a mule. A charming reach, with beautiful
| ||
| 5. | 
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Guideline for end of page hyphens:
Despite being an end-of-page em-dash, this actually should not have an asterisk after it. This is not explicitly discussed in the guidelines, but can be inferred from the sentence explaining why we normally add the asterisk. In this case, the subsequent page begins with poetry, which can be considered a new paragraph, and needs a blank line above it. It should not, and cannot, be joined to the paragraph that ends on the page in the image. Therefore, we do not need an asterisk to alert the post-processor to anything at all and in fact, if we do add an asterisk there, we will be providing misleading information to them about what needs to be done in this case. In many cases, this can be identified only by looking at the page following (or preceding) the hyphen, but this case is relatively obvious even without doing so, because there is additional white space to the right of the hyphen. Since it does not end all the way on the right as the other lines do, this is a relatively good indication this is the end of the paragraph. Of course, it is always safest to look at the page after to validate that assumption before making a final call. |
| song, "Steal Away to Jesus." There was not a note of bitterness nor denunciation throughout the season of prayer. | ||
| 6. | 
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Guideline for start/end of line dashes in poetry:
In poetry, we do not wrap end-of-line or start-of-line hyphens. Retaining the line breaks is an important part of reading poetry as it was intended by the author and so you almost always match the scan. |
| White Poppy, heavy with dreams, Though I am hungry for their lips
| ||
| 7. | 
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Guideline for end-of-line hyphens:
Guideline for spacing before and after em-dashes:
Guideline for end/start of line em-dashes:
Since exertion is split across two lines, the second part of the word needs to be rejoined to the previous line. The hyphen should be removed because there's never a circumstance in which you would find exer-tion as a valid word. However, when you move exertion up to the previous line, you also need to move up the em-dash that follows -tion in the image, as well as the word most in order to comply with the guidelines' instructions about removing spacing before and after em-dashes. If you moved '-tion' up to the previous line but left '--most' where it is, you would be starting a line with an em-dash, which is only permitted at the start of a new paragraph. Although preceding needs to be rejoined as a single word on the penultimate line, you do not need to move 'years--so' up; since the em-dash does not start the line, it can be left there. |
| woman like Grandma, but Isabel was a welcome enough victim to matrimony if it required neither charm nor exertion--most | ||
| 8. | 
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Guideline for when not to close up the space after a dash (common exception):
This is the 'common exception' referenced in the guidelines via an example. Since last- in this instance refers to 'lastdieren' and dieren is repeated later on in the subsequent line, in the word 'trekdieren', a space should be left after the hyphen in this instance, as it represents the omitted 'dieren'. It is not correct to proof this as last-en trekdieren, with no space between the hyphen and 'en'. |
| zoeken: dat zij, vergroot, onvermoeide karrepaarden, last- en trekdieren zouden kunnen leveren. Vooral de jonge dieren | ||
| 9. | 
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Guideline for when not to close up the space after a dash (common exception):
This is the 'common exception' referenced in the guidelines via an example. Since Frühlings- in this instance refers to 'Frühlingstagen' and tagen is repeated later on in the subsequent line, in the word 'Herbsttagen', a space should be left after the hyphen in this instance, as it represents the omitted 'tagen'. It is not correct to proof this as 'Frühlingsoder Herbsttagen'. |
| Prokopiusfeste oder sonst an schönen Frühlings- oder Herbsttagen angesehene Gäste aus der | ||
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Guideline for when to add an asterisk because of a presumed hyphen from previous page:
Since there is no valid complete word 'mesan', we can assume that the previous page has the beginning of the word with a hyphen after it. Presumably, the proofer of that page has added an asterisk after the hyphen to alert the post-processor to recombine the word, but you should also add an asterisk at the start of 'mesan'. The redundancy helps ensure that if someone overlooks an asterisk on one page, the word is still caught and recombined in post-processing. |
| *mesan Cheese.--They must have been previously cooked and cut up in small pieces. | ||
| 11. | 
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Guideline for dashes in poetry:
In this example, the lines of poetry are longer than the page, and so the line beginning 'He returns' has been laid out on three lines with a large indent on the second and third lines as an indication. For this reason, you do need to move the 'even' up to the end of the line above it and proof this as 'waters--even'. It is neither the start nor the end of the line of poetry. During the formatting rounds, poetry lines are unwrapped and all put on one line, so it's important to have this hyphen properly closed up between 'waters' and 'even' before that rewrapping happens. |
| He drinks at the Wells of Moses, at the foot of Mount Sinai: |
Period Pause "..." (Ellipsis)
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Guidelines:
These are each at the end of a sentence: in the first case it's followed by a capital letter which wouldn't normally be capitalized, and the second is at the end of a paragraph so it has to be the end of the sentence. (Sentences don't generally continue from one paragraph to another; if there's no more of the sentence in the text, it's the end of the sentence.) |
| He was a Special Investigator.... A society girl, playing at work.... | ||
| 2. | 
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Guidelines:
When the phrase that ends with an ellipsis does not immediately continue on with the same sentence, then that phrase is complete and we treat it as the end of a sentence, with end of sentence punctuation and the ellipsis. "My stout Uncle Henry" is not a complete sentence, but since there is no more of the sentence in the text, it's the end of the sentence as far as the ellipsis is concerned. The quotation mark does not count as end of sentence punctuation, so we add a period to bring the total to four dots. |
| "Quite," said the Rum and Milk. "My stout Uncle Henry...."
| ||
| 3. | This sentence has ... too many ellipses in it! |
Guidelines:
The first ellipsis is mid-sentence, with spacing as if it was a word. In this case, there is a line break instead of a space after the ellipsis, which is perfectly ok.
The capitalized word "It's" indicates the beginning of the next sentence, so the second ellipsis is at the end of the first sentence. So we move the ellipsis up to the end of the previous line, with no space between the exclamation point and the ellipsis. |
| This sentence has ... too many ellipses in it!... | ||
| 4. | The third (Victoria...), although only published in
September, 1863, has already |
Guidelines:
The ellipsis represents the rest of the title of a book that begins with "Victoria". This is mid-sentence, so the ellipsis is spaced as if it was a word. |
| The third (Victoria ...), although only published in September, 1863, has already | ||
| 5. | 'That was good! ...' I said to myself, 'just what I was hoping for.' 'That was good, ...' I said to myself, 'just what I was hoping for.' |
This example includes several very similar lines, so we can see how small differences give clues about whether an ellipsis should be treated as at the end of a sentence or mid-sentence. Line 1 is ambiguous, there is no consensus on this situation. The exclamation point often indicates the end of a sentence, but it doesn't always. The next word "I" would be capital whether or not it is the start of a new sentence. The Project Manager or Post Processor may have a preference, so leave a note and/or ask in the project discussion if this ellipsis should be treated as end of sentence or mid-sentence. |
| 'That was good![**space?]...' I said to myself, 'just what I was hoping for.' 'That was good, ...' I said to myself, 'just what I was hoping for.' | ||
| 6. | 
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There is no consensus on this situation. The Project Manager or Post Processor may have a preference, so ask in the project discussion if this ellipsis should be treated as end of sentence or mid-sentence. |
| above the wounded.'... 'The only death that
OR
| ||
| 7. | 
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Guidelines:
The exclamation point in this example is not ending punctuation. The lower case word "only" indicates the sentence continues, so proofread the ellipsis as three dots with spacing as if it is a single word. |
| the Battalion. Alas! ... only here and there could an | ||
| 8. | 
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Guidelines:
This is a mid-sentence ellipsis, which breaks across two lines of text in the image. So to treat it as a single word, the three dots go together, on the upper line. The guideline for no space after an em-dash applies here, just as if the em-dash was followed by a word. |
| There is also a sketch of much power and peculiar interest, entitled
"The House of Usher" which cannot fail to attract attention--... | ||
| 9. | 
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Guidelines:
This is ambiguous, you can't tell for sure if the sentence ends at the ellipsis or not. When the word following the ellipsis is "I" or a proper noun, or the start of a new line in poetry, it would be capitalized either way, so that doesn't help decide if the sentence ends there or not. If the author themselves used a mix of three-dot and four-dot ellipses, this can give you a strong hint that this particular case is a mid-sentence ellipsis. Leave a [**note] when it is ambiguous. |
| SALLY. I thought you would....[**or " ..."? unclear if sentence ends] I thought you
wouldn't mind if I was not up when you came. |
Superscripts and Subscripts
| 1. | 
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Guideline for superscript:
This applies to any superscript, not just for contractions. The proofed text M^cClelland, without any braces, means only the single character 'c' after the ^ is the superscript. |
| And so G^{eo} M^cClelland did grant to J^{no} M^cFarland a plot of ground five acres in extent. | ||
| 2. | 
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Guideline for degree symbol:
3° C includes the degree sign character, which is simply another character and not proofed with a ^ as a superscript. Guideline for superscript o:
N^o has a superscript o, which derives from the Latin word numero. It is unrelated to degrees. |
| Chanel N^o. 5 includes esters that evaporate at 3° C or higher. |
Words in Small Capitals
| 1. | 
Text from previous round or OCR: |
When text has capital letters that are all the same size as each other, and the line or paragraph has other lowercase alphabetic characters, and the capitals are about the same height as the x-height of the lowercase letters, then consider them to be all small capitals. Otherwise consider them to be ALL REGULAR CAPITALS. If a line or complete paragraph consists of all capitals that are the same height, they are proofread as ALL CAPITALS no matter what size they are in relation to other text on the page.
The first heading has all capital letters on a line by itself, with no lowercase letters. So this heading line is proofread as ALL CAPITALS. The second heading has characters in small caps, as you can tell by the size of the capitals relative to the lowercase letters in the same line. So for that heading, do not change the case of the text. Keep the words WHIPPING THE as uppercase, and keep the words top and whirligig as lowercase, as they are in OCR text. If the OCR'd text is already ALL-CAPPED, Mixed-Cased, or lower-cased, leave it ALL-CAPPED, Mixed-Cased, or lower-cased. |
| WEAPON-SHAWING
| ||
| 2. | 
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The word CALORIES stands on its own as a table column header, so the size of the letters is not compared to other letters, even on the same row of text, to distinguish between regular capitals and small capitals. So CALORIES is considered to be ALL REGULAR CAPITALS.
In post-processing, each element of a table cell is formatted and processed separately from each element in a different cell. In this case, though they appear on the same line, CALORIES is a table header that will go in its own cell and so you can think of it as a separate element from the other text on the line. |
| For 1000 Calories a Day: CALORIES
|
Roman Numerals
| 1. | 
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In many books, the number 1 and the letter I can be printed in a very similar fashion, and it can be challenging to determine when you should proof it as an I and when you should proof it as a 1. Context can be very useful in this situation. In this example, although the image shows I., since the next item in the instructions begins with 2., we can deduce that the author was intending to provide a numbered list. Thus, it makes sense to proof this as 1. If the list's second item was marked II., then it would be more logical to proof the first item as I. |
| inner bark and sap-wood of the trunk and larger roots. 1. Dig them out in fall and spring, using a sharp knife, | ||
| 2. | 
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In this example, both context and visual clues can help you distinguish when to proof as I and when to proof as 1. First, the index is presenting a list of page references for the first volume, followed by the list of pages for the second volume. Since we can see that the second volume is represented by II., we should also proof the first instance of I. as I. Second, you can see that the subsequent use of I (in the II) is actually a little shorter than the first one. This is a clue that the second I. is actually just the printer's choice to represent a 1. It also helps to realize that since there are two of them and they are not followed by a period like the first I, this is indicating page 11 rather than volume II. You can also visually compare this number to the 1s in other page references that contain a 1 as well as other numbers, such as 117, to confirm that the II in the image is actually 11. |
| Chin Shoo, II., 51 China: archæology, I., 11; history, I., |
| 1. | 
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In this image, it can be difficult to distinguish if the letters after the -- in the entry for Bulletin No. 50 are lowercase Ls or capital Is or potentially 11. In this case, it can be helpful to look at the context on the page. This is a reference list of government publications. Two lines above this entry is another entry which has almost the same title "The Health of School Children" and was published in the same year. For this reason, it seems logical that this second bulletin, issued the same year with an almost identical title, would have II in the name, to represent that it was the second one published with this title. You can always leave a proofer's note if unsure, but it is far more likely to indicate 2 than 11 or anything with a lowercase L. |
| Bulletin No. 4, 1915, "The Health of School Children" (Heck). Bulletin No. 21, 1915, "Schoolhouse Sanitation" (Cook). |
Symbols used in Math
| 1. | 
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Guideline for equals sign:
Symbols that are used in mathematical equations are discussed not in the main proofing guidelines, but in Essential Math for Proofers, a more specialized but still official wiki page. Even when the equals sign is not being used as part of a mathematical equation, the guidelines from this page apply. In this example, the equals sign is just being used as a means of illustrating the definition or use of each color, but a space needs to be added on each side of the equals sign, regardless of what you see in the image. |
| The first or provisional issue, hurriedly got up, and printed with a native made die were as follows:--
|
Asterisks
| 1. | 
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On occasion, you will find asterisks used instead of ellipses to represent omitted text. This situation is not covered in the guidelines; the closest guidance you can follow in this case is "if something in the text does not match the original page image, you should change the text so that it does match." For this reason, most proofers will proof this with spaces between the asterisks. If you are not certain, you can ask the PM if they want them closed up, as they may prefer to do that to prevent odd rewrapping in the final ebook. |
| God, gets me back to the why of calling my son Cock o' the Walk or * * * It is not only a sonorous, deafening, |
Proofreading at the Paragraph Level
Paragraph Breaks and Line Breaks
| 1. | 
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Guideline for paragraph breaks:
Guideline for line breaks:
Principle for blank lines (not in official documentation): Leave a blank line above anything that should not be joined to the previous line, but if unsure ask. Determining what is a paragraph can sometimes be complicated or non-obvious. In this case, all of "Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny Frank Zappa" on the same line is not an appropriate outcome, so a blank line can be added to indicate it should not be wrapped to the previous line during post-processing, but if unsure ask. For some projects, a blank line might not be desired in this situation. |
| CHAPTER IX
| ||
| 2. | 
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Guideline for paragraph spacing:
Normally we would look at the indentation and line spacing to determine what forms a paragraph. In this case, the left-margin of the lines beginning "I'm gwine..." and "Set right..." are all indented in such a way that would imply each line is its own paragraph. However, there are two clues that they actually all belong in one single paragraph. The first clue is the context of the text above, indicating that the character is singing a song. We often treat the lyrics of songs in the same way as poetry. The second clue is that all three lines are enclosed in a single set of double quotes. For this reason, it is most appropriately treated as one single paragraph. You can check with the PM to confirm if you are not sure. |
| Andrew began a spiritual, clapping his hands slowly together as he sang, | ||
| 3. | 
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Guideline for line breaks:
You can use the extra margin/indentation on the left to determine which lines should be considered the start of a paragraph. However, because there is a poem in the middle of the paragraph, you need to leave a blank line above and below it. |
| Brigham Young represents the "Latter Day Saint," but it took a French poet to describe the "Latter
| ||
| 4. | 
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Guideline for line breaks:
Eventually the author and title will all be on the same row of the table. However, during the proofing rounds, you should leave the line breaks as they are. That means that, while the other rows of the table have the author and title on the same line, you should leave Nathaniel Hawthorne on its own line during the proofing rounds and not join the title and page number to that line. |
| PLACE DESCRIPTION 204
| ||
| 5. | 
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Guideline for paragraph spacing:
When varying indents are used, it can be a little more difficult to distinguish what is a paragraph. This example, from a dramatic scene, illustrates a few different techniques you can use. One is to look at the content and purpose of each section. For example, the line starting "Scene 2." is its own paragraph because it is the introduction to the scene and the characters present, and that topic does not continue to the subsequent line. The next two lines belong together in one paragraph for the same reason. The indentation at the start and the extra white space at the end of the line also provide good clues as to where to add paragraph breaks. However, you may notice that the subsequent sentences/paragraphs are outdented further than the paragraph that begins "Joe is borne". Despite this, you know they need to be their own paragraphs because of the extra white space on the lines above each. In this page, you must look at all of the clues - context, indentation, and white spaces - to make the appropriate determination. |
Scene 2. Policeman, Driver, Joe, STELLA. | ||
| 6. | 
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There are a few interpretations of this example, depending on whether or not you consider the signature to be a paragraph and your personal opinion on the importance of spacing lines that 'shouldn't be rejoined':
1.) In this perspective, the signature is all considered to be a single paragraph by this author, represented by the opening quotes before "Your" and the closing quotes after "Montcalm." Even though the indentation of each line is staggered, it does not indicate that each line is its own paragraph. The fact that there is only one period on the last line and the line above uses a comma is another clue, aside from the opening and closing quotes, to treat this all as a single paragraph.
2.) From this point of view, a letter signature, despite using commas and periods, does not constitute a grammatical sentence and thus isn't a paragraph. As such, the guidelines about paragraph spacing are not relevant and instead, we would apply the line break rules. As the white space between lines in the signature is the same as the white space between lines in the paragraph above it, you do not need to leave extra line breaks between each line. This point of view would argue that these lines could indeed theoretically be rewrapped without impacting the meaning and the presentation is more of a stylistic choice than anything else. 3.) In the third perspective, if lines should not be joined together, e.g. cannot be rewrapped without losing the meaning, a line break (< br >) is not sufficient and you need to include two line breaks, e.g. also include a blank line between each line of text. These individuals would argue that the placement of the line breaks in the letter signature is critical to the meaning. This approach is not rooted in the guidelines nor is it a technical requirement for post-processing, as it will be handled by formatting markup during the formatting rounds, and as such is a matter of personal preference. Likely this perspective is a "better safe than sorry" kind of approach left over from legacy processes. In short, in this situation, you can leave it as you found it, either with or without extra blank lines, and either will be considered acceptable. Changing from one to the other is a non-essential diff. |
| with which I have the honour to be
OR with which I have the honour to be |
Illustrations
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DRAFT Guidelines for illustrations:
This illustration is in the middle of a paragraph, and it has no caption. Ignore the illustration and do not leave any blank lines in the middle of a paragraph. |
| model of the standard form of link motion in use upon American
Locomotives. One of these models would be an invaluable aid |
Footnotes/Endnotes
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In forumtopic:24017, lucy24 wrote "Sometimes you'll meet projects where you are asked to position the footnote exactly where it was in the original: before, after or between words. But this isn't one of those cases; the following semicolon makes it unambiguous where the footnote marker belongs, so close up the space just as you would if the footnote marker weren't there. (Unless the Project Comments specifically say not to, in which case you're safer posting in the Project Discussion thread.)
"Yes, you delete the existing parentheses. Those are footnote-anchor parentheses, not "real" parentheses serving some function in the text. More often you'll see footnote anchors followed by a single close-parenthesis, and if you ever get into Post-Processing you'll be glad those are taken away, because they send the Mismatched Bracket Checker into hysterics." Note the removal of the catchword (the first word from the next page) |
| they were generally loaded with bilious Humours[e]; which, if suffered to remain in the
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| 2. | (1) First footnote blah blah.
(2) Second footnote blah blah. |
See forumpost:260931, part of forumtopic:20191. note that parens are removed and each footnote is treated as a separate paragraph. |
1 First footnote blah blah. | ||
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See forumtopic:24575. Note that each footnote is treated as a separate paragraph, even though there is more than one note on a line in the original.
Note also that parens around footnote numbers are converted to square brackets. |
| Marks[1] asserts that this state is impossible. Banks[2] responds that
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Lists of items
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In forumpost:271729 (part of forumtopic:24189) De2164 wrote "put the second column under the first column as per the guidelines" |
| Temple on May 8th; also, to return their thanks for the liberal donation presented to this Post; and at the same time to express the
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Poetry/Epigrams
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In forumpost:258995 (part of forumtopic:23430) garweyne writes: "Whatever say the guidelines (and they are at least ambiguous) I would rejoin. A line split in this way might be unnoticed in formatting (the formatters are not assumed to read the text) and the final result might be wrong."
Lucy24 responds (agreeing): "Most formatting is decorative,[1] but split lines-- whether it's a whole word(s) or only part of one-- are an essential element of the text. It may be even more important in drama than in plain verse, because sometimes you'll meet single-bracketed [stage directions and you don't want to confuse those with overflow words. But you get them anywhere there are space constraints. 1 That is, you can strip it away and the text will still make sense." |
| This is the first, and longer, line of poetry. This is the second line. | ||
| 4. | 
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As per the guidelines. Contrast with the previous example. |
| This is the poem and it doesn't quite fit... |
Letters/Correspondence
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See forumtopic:24433. The point here is that the closing line (Yours as ever...) and the P.S. are both treated as separate paragraphs, and a blank line precedes each. |
| A letter from you could reach me at Bretton Woods, and I should be glad to hear there just when you think affairs |
Single Word at Bottom of Line
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In many older books, the first word (or partial word, as here) on the next page is printed at the right below the last line of the page. DP considers this a kind of footer, and it is normally omitted. When a book has catchwords, they will most often be mentioned in the project comments.
Note that removal of the catchword leaves a hyphenated word at the end of the page, which is handled in the normal way. |
| The one tires, the other shocks. Even in the lowest classes of life, the composer | ||
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Here the catchword is a complete word. It is also removed.
Note that in both examples the scan shown is from the bottom of a scanned page. Note also the "long s" in each example. |
| This leads us to examine more directly emotions and passions with respect to the |
Proofreading at the Page Level
Table of Contents
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Guideline for leader characters:
But a period in the table entry itself is not a leader character, and should be separated from leader characters with one or more spaces. The spacing of the dots in the image indicates the second line has a period after Gasquet, while the first line does not have a period. Separating the period from the leaders helps prevent the period from being accidentally removed later in the process.
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L'Amour de plâtre ............ 192
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It is ok to remove leader characters in proofing rounds. These characters can be considered formatting, and it is ok to remove formatting if it interferes with your proofreading. Be careful to not remove any similar characters, such as ending punctuation that is not a leader. Do not add any leader characters that were not already in the text that comes to you in the rounds. Even if a previous proofreader removed leaders, do not add them back.
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Palestine I. Herbert Bentwich 3889
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