SYMBOLS USED FOR CORRECTING COMPOSITIONS
SYMBOL
__
TYPE OF ERROR
Spelling
Agreement
Word form
EXAMPLE
CORRECTION
professor
fué
alli
la problema
profesor
fue
allí
el problema
buenas días
buenos días
yo está
yo estoy
para yo
para mí
vengo de bailando
vengo de bailar
Yo era en Italia.
Yo estaba en Italia.
^^^^
Incorrect word
^^^^
Atiendo a la universidad.
Asisto a la universidad.
^^^^^^^^
Estoy a la biblioteca.
Estoy en la biblioteca.
^^^
Excessive word
Tengo un otro hermano.
Tengo otro hermano.
Vamos ir a la playa.
Vamos a ir a la playa.
^
prep.
Niños juegan.
^
Missing word
Los niños juegan.
^
art.
¿Qué dijiste a Juan?
¿Qué le dijiste a Juan?
^
pron.
{ }
( )
^^^^^^^
[ ]
Incorrect position
el { negro } gato
el gato negro
Unnecessary word
( Nosotros ) fuimos al cine.
Fuimos al cine.
La casa que me gusta es
Repetitive
La casa que me gusta es una casa
^^^^^^^
muy bonita. La casa tiene tres
^^^^^^^
cuartos y es una casa grande
^^^^^^^^
Verb tense/aspect
Ayer perdía el tren.
Ayer perdí el tren.
Verb mood
Ojalá él me escribe.
Ojalá él me escriba.
Construction
This symbol indicates that part or all of your sentence needs
rewriting entirely either because it is unclear, or because it
would be incomprehensible to a native speaker.
muy bonita. Tiene tres
cuartos y es una mansión.
Explanation of symbols
Spelling: Check the word in the dictionary, when looking for feminine words in the dictionary, look
always for the masculine form. If the mistake was made on a verb form, check the verb charts for
the correct spelling of the ending or stem. Remember that accent marks, the tilde (~), and the
diéresis ( ¨ ) are part of the spelling of a word.
Agreement: Agreement might be in gender (masculine/feminine) or number (singular/plural). Articles,
adjectives, and pronouns agree with nouns. Subject-verb agreement.
Word form: This term refers to the variation of forms given in Spanish to verbs and pronouns
depending on their grammatical function. Please verify your grammatical construction and choose
the correct form needed for the specific context.
a. pronouns: subject (yo, ella…), direct or indirect object (me, te, lo, las, nos le, les…), object of
preposition (mí, ti, conmigo…).
b. verbs: personal form (hablo…), infinitive form –infinitivo– (hablar…), past participle
–participio pasado– (hablado…), present participle –gerundio– (hablando…).
Incorrect word: These are lexical errors, or the use of one term instead of another. Under this
category you may find ser instead of estar, por instead of para, and false cognates as actualmente
(nowadays) to translate actually. Check your context, make careful use of your grammar book
and/or dictionary.
Excessive word: Please delete the word from the sentence and make sure to understand why you don’t
need it in order to avoid making the same mistake twice.
Missing word: Additional aid is provided with this symbol to ensure that you know what you’re
missing. Please refer to the list of abbreviations bellow.
Incorrect position: Reread your sentence to place word(s) in proper position according to Spanish
syntax.
Unnecessary word: This word is not necessary, because it is redundant, or because it is not typically
used in the given structure.
Repetitive: This symbol means that you are using one word, or a group of words excessively. Look for
synonyms in the dictionary and diversify your vocabulary.
Verb tense/aspect: This symbol refers to the tense/aspect within a verbal mood: past
(preterit/imperfect/pluperfect), present (simple and perfect), future (simple and perfect), and the
two forms of the conditional (simple and perfect). Remember that if only the tense is wrong you
must not change the mood.
Verb mood: This symbol refers to the mood of the verb: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. If
only the symbol for mood is used, remember that you must not change the tense.
Construction: A part of a sentence, or entire sentence, placed in brackets, indicates that it must be
rewritten. Carefully reread your context and determine as best as you can what the problem might
be (direct translation from English is often the problem). Rewrite the segment, a total reformulation
is often the best solution, don’t simply omit the segment.
Abbreviations:
adj.=adjetivo
adv.=adverbio
art.=artículo
aux.=auxiliar
OD=objeto directo
OI=objeto indirecto
conj.=conjunción
dem.=demostrativo
imp.=impersonal
info.=información
ort.=signo ortográfico ( ‘’, . : ; ¿ ? ¡ ! “ ” …)
per.=personal
pos.=posesivo
prep.=preposición
pron.=pronombre
rel.=relativo
verb.=verbo
conj. subord. =conjunción subordinante