The Keables Guide
Key to Codes
Embedded Files
A
A
Abb or Abb.X: abbreviations, symbols and slashes
Ad: adjectives and adverbs
GT: Good or Well
Agr: pronoun-antecedent agreement
Apostrophe rules:
Ap: possessives
Ap.C: contractions
Ap.I: “its” and “it’s”
Ap.J: joint or individual possession
Ap.Pl: possessives of plurals
Ap.S: singular noun ending in s or z
PT: plurals of names
Ap.T: use curly apostrophes
PT: formatting the ‘okina
Ap.W: plural words and letters, not
numbers, abbreviations or dates
ApX: misuse of apostrophe
Art: articles
B
B
Bib: bibliography form
Extra Help: format (print)
Extra Help: format (electronic)
Br: brackets
BrX: use brackets sparingly
C
C
Capitalization rules:
Cap: capital letters
Cap.F: first word of a sentence
Cap.N: title as name (“Mom,”
“mother”)
Cap.D: directions (“go south,” “the
South”)
Cap.T: titles of books, etc.
Cap.G: deities (“God,” “the gods”)
Cap.X: misuse of capitals
Comma rules:
C: commas
C2nd: additional comma needed
CA: before “and,” “but” (independent
clauses)
C.Ad: coordinate adjectives
GT: coordinate/cumulative adjs.
C.App: appositives
C.Cont: contrasts
CD: dialogue (I said, “Hello”)
CDA: direct address
CDN: dates, numbers, etc.
CE: ending/concluding element
CI: introductory word group
GT: absolute phrases
C.Inter: interrupting elements
CQ: tag question (“am I?”) or
command
CS: comma splices
C.Ser: series
C.Tr: transitions
C.Wh: “who,” “whom” (nonrestrictive)
CYN: “yes,” “no,” interjections
Misused commas:
CX: misused comma
CXA: compound elements
Extra Help: comma before “and”
CX.Ad: cumulative adjectives
CX.Conj: after conjunction
CXE: before subordinate
clause/restrictive element
CXI: short introductory elements
CX.MP: with modifiers and
possessives
CXO: before object, complement, list
CXQ: certain quotations
CX.SV: between subject and verb
CX.Th: indirect statements,
quotations with “that”
Creative Writing rules:
CWA: action
CW.Ad: adjectives and adverbs in
creative writing.
CW.Arch: archaic English
CW.Ch: characterization
Extra Help: creating a character
CW.Cl: avoid creative writing clichés
CW.Con: consistent style and tone
CWD: dialogue
Extra Help: verbs for dialogue
Extra Help: writing dialogue
CWP: plot and conflict
CW.SDT: show, don’t tell
CWVT: avoid present tense in
narrative
CW.Vul: vulgar language
Other "C" rules:
Ch: choppy sentences
Circ: circular reasoning
Cit: in-text citations
CL: clichés
Col: colons
Col.X: misuse of colon
Comp: incomplete comparisons
Cont: contractions
D
D
D: dash
Deg: comparative, superlative degree
GT: degrees of modifiers
Dangling or Misrelated Modifers:
DM: dangling/misrelated modifiers
DM.Ad: adverbs and adjectives
DM.Ap: appositives
GT: appositives
DMP: participles and gerunds
GT: participles and gerunds
DMT: dangling transitions
SqM: squinting modifiers
Extra Help: dangling modifiers
DR: Documentation responsibilities
Extra Help: what to document
DT: typography of dash (dash—like this)
DX: use dashes sparingly
E
E
Ell: ellipsis
Ell.T: typography of ellipses
Ell.X: avoid ellipses
EP: end punctuation
Essay rules:
EC: conclusion
EGen: generalizations
EI: introduction
Extra Help: how to begin
EPara: paragraphs
ER: think of your readers
ET: title
Extra Help: writing titles
ETh: topic and thesis
Extra Help: topics and theses
ETrans: transitions
F
F
Fl: flabby sentences
GT: coordination and subordination
FN: footnotes
Extra Help: formatting notes
Fr: fragments
FS: fused sentences
G
G
G.1: write the rule, not just “G” or “Glossary.”
Ger: possessive with gerunds
H
H
h/s: reference to gender (“he” or “she”)
Usage Tip: almunus or alumni?
Hdg: heading (Manuscript Form)
HP: hanging prepositions
Hwtg: handwriting (Manuscript Form)
Hy: hyphens with compounds, prefixes
Hy.E: divide words at the end of lines to make margins and spacing regular
Hy.T: typography
Hy.X: misuse of hyphens
I
I
Id: idioms, idiomatic prepositions
Usage Tip: idioms
Ind: indentation (Manuscript Form)
Inf: informal, slang, regionalisms
Int/Ref: “-self” pronouns
GT: intensive and reflexive pronouns
Inter: artificial interruptions
Irr: irregular verbs
GT: irregular verbs
GT: principal parts
Ital: italics
Ital.F: foreign words
Ital.Q: italics in quotations
Ital.T: typography
Ital.W: words and letters
Ital.X: misuse of italics
J
J
J: jargon, pretentious language
Usage Tip: jargon
L
L
Writing about Literature:
LA: refer clearly to the author
L.An: anachronism
LB: do not boast
L.Bkgd: omit unnecessary
background
LC: place commas carefully
L.Ch: call characters what author
calls them
L.Con: provide context
L.Doc: use of secondary sources
LF: vague analogies of form and
meaning
LI: avoid the irrelevant “I” and “me”
LO: avoid mystery openings
L.Org: avoid mechanical organization
L.Pre: beware of imposing
preconceptions
L.Punc: do not comment on the
punctuation
LR: do not repeat “in/of the
poem/story/play”
LRC: do not repeat what was said in
class
L.Sh: do not rely on “this shows that”
L.Sp: misspelled author’s name,
misquoted title
L.Sum: avoid plot summary and
paraphrase
LT: avoid dull titles
Extra Help: writing a title
L.Terms: misuse of literary terms
L.Th: make your thesis interpretative
Extra Help: theses in essays on
literature
L.Tone: maintain an objective tone
LVT: use present tense in writing
about literature
L.Wdy: avoid wordy transitions
Other "L" rules:
LV: change linking verbs to action verbs
Ly: adjectives ending in “-ly”
M
M
Manuscript Form rules:
Hdg: heading
Hwtg: handwriting
Ind: indentation
Mat: materials
MF: manuscript form
MFP: punctuation
Extra Help: formatting dashes
MFQ: quotations
MF.Sp: spacing
MFT: title
MF.Ty: typeface
Mrg: margins
Pg: pagination
Poetic Meter:
M: meter
MA: awkward phrasing
Extra Help: history of a line
MO: one-syllable lines
MP: padded lines
MC: avoid artificial pronunciation
Extra Help: elision
MSS: sentence structure (one-line
clauses)
MQ: misquotation
Mx: shifts and mixed constructions
MxM: mixed metaphors
Mx.Q: pronoun shifts with quotations
N
N
N: numbers
Neg: double negatives
P
P
Par: parallelism
Paren: parentheses
Paren.X: use parentheses sparingly
Part: participial endings (“–ed”)
GT: participles
Perf: past perfect
GT: perfect tenses
Pg: pagination (Manuscript Form)
PrepX: redundant prepositions (“rise up,” “start out”)
Pro sh: pronoun reference shifts
PV: passive voice
Pronoun Case:
PC: case (“I,” “me,” “my,” etc.)
PCA: compounds (“he and I,” etc.)
PCC: comparisons (“as old as I,” etc.)
PCL: linking verbs (“This is she”)
GT: linking verbs
Poetry rules:
PD: diction
PF: formatting poems
Extra Help: formatting poems
PLE: line and sentence breaks
PLL: line length
PP: punctuation
PSS: loose sentence structure
PTh: theme and idea
Q
Q
Quotation Marks:
QM: quotation marks
QMD: dialogue
QMLQ: long (extracted) quotations
QMP: punctuation with quotations
QMT: typography
QMW: words, letters, numbers,
abbreviations
QMX: misuse (to indicate irony)
QQ: quotations within quotations
Quoting rules:
Q.Br: brackets
QC: introduce with a comma
Q.Ch: other punctuation changes
Q.Col: introduce with a colon
Extra Help: phrases with colons
QD: documentation (parenthetical
citation)
QEB: citing electronic texts
Q.Ell: omissions (ellipses)
QEP: alter end punctuation
QI: introducing quotations
QLQ: long quotations
Extra Help: long quotations
QN: enumerating citations (149-51)
QND: citing drama
Q.No: introduce with no punctuation
QNP: numbering short and long
poems
QP: quoting poetry
Q.Punc: punctuation with quotations
QV: vary handling of quotations
R
R
Redundancy:
Red: redundancy
Extra Help: redundancy
Red.abs: comparatives, absolutes,
intensifiers
Red pro: pronouns (“his reason for
his decision”)
Ref: pronoun reference
GT: demonstrative pronouns
Rep: repetition
RO: run-on sentence
RX: awkward rhymes, jingles
Rhyme in Poetry:
Rh.2L: penultimate syllable
unstressed
Rh.A: awkward phrasing
Rh.Dif: adjacent sounds different
Rh.Sch: rhyme scheme
Rh.Str: last stressed syllable
Rh.Tr: true rhyme
Rh.W: weak words, only for rhyme
S
S
SC: semicolons
SCX: misuse of semicolon
SDT: show, don’t tell
SFG: foregrounding research sources
Sh: pronoun reference shifts
SI: split infinitives
GT: infinitives
Sim: simplify complicated sentences
Sp: spelling checklist
SqM: squinting modifiers
Subject-Verb Agreement:
SV: subject-verb agreement
GT: subject-verb agreement
SVA: “and” and “or”
SVC: complements
SV.Col: collective nouns, numbers,
titles
SVI: inversion (“there is/are,” etc.)
SVP: indefinite pronouns (“any,”
“each,” etc.)
T
T
T: titles (punctuation: “The Raven,” Hamlet)
Th: “that” needed for clarity
Ty: typo
V
V
Var: vary sentence patterns
VI: intransitive verbs
Voc: meaningless and lifeless words
VS: subjunctive mood (“if I were you”)
GT: moods of verbs
VT: verb tense
VTR: transitive verbs
GT: transitive or intransitive
W
W
Wdy: wordiness
WF: wrong form of a word (“evilness,” “a dominate team”)
Usage Tip: verbs formed from nouns
Wh: “who” and “whom”
GT: "who" and "whom"
WW: wrong word
Extra Help: connotation
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