Spot the common slips.
Selected checks for agreement, repeated words, homophones, punctuation, comma splices and fragments. When context matters, the flag is marked as a possible issue.
BEFORE THE FINAL PROOF
A closer look. Your own edits.
Paste a story or a page of captions. Copy Check flags common grammar slips, 2027 staff-style conflicts, caption-format gaps and LQTQ structure, and points to the exact passage and the rule behind each flag. It never rewrites your copy.
0 words · Each paragraph (press Enter) is checked as its own paragraph. Bold formatting is kept when you paste, so the checker can see bold caption lead-ins.
Check settings & name context
One person per line: role | full name | grade or adult title. Role is student (grade 9–12) or adult. With this list, the checker can compare first references, grades and later references against names you've verified. It isn't connected to Skyward or any directory, and nothing is saved.
Checking happens on this page in your browser. Your copy isn't uploaded, saved or sent to an AI service.
Only flagging errors.
No rewrites.
Run a check to see each flagged passage, where it is, and the rule it concerns. Select Show in text to jump to the passage in your copy.
AT THE SUPPORT DESK
How Copy Check works
One publication voice.
The 2027 Yearbook Staff Style Guide governs checks for names and IDs, numbers, dates and times, attribution, capitalization, banned filler and clichés, and sports copy.
See the story’s shape.
A paragraph map checks the lead → quote → transition → quote sequence, including any extra transition/quote pairs, and whether the story ends on a quote.
Using the checker
- Choose Story or Captions. In captions mode, also choose a default caption style and how your caption blocks are arranged.
- Paste one draft into the box. Paste from Google Docs or Word to keep bold lead-ins, or type straight in. Each paragraph is checked separately.
- Optional: open Check settings to include headings or table text, or add verified names and grades.
- Select Check my copy. Read each flagged passage and its rule. Possible issue means context matters.
- Select Show in text to highlight a passage in the box. Make your own edits there or in your original document.
- After you edit, run the check again for current results and locations.
Reading a flag
- Category and locationGrammar, Staff style, LQTQ, Caption format or Verify reference, plus the paragraph (and caption) number.
- The original passageExactly what you wrote. Copy Check never suggests replacement wording.
- The reason and the sourceWhy it was flagged, and the guide page and section the rule comes from.
- Quoted passage · verification neededThe flag falls inside quotation marks. Check it against your reporting notes. Don't change a direct quote just to clear a flag.
What to expect
- Nothing is flaggedThe selected patterns found no issue. It isn't a complete grammar or fact check, and it isn't approval to publish.
- A flag looks wrongThe checker uses patterns, not a full grammar parser, dictionary or AP Stylebook. Use your judgment and the style guide.
- A paragraph label looks wrongThe LQTQ map infers roles from position and quotation marks. It can't fully read a story's meaning.
- A highlight is goneEditing the text after a check clears the highlights. Run the check again.
- LimitsCheck one draft at a time: up to 50,000 characters and 500 paragraphs. At most 500 flags are shown.
Tips for cleaner results
- Use curly or straight quotation marks consistently, and close every quote.
- Put each speaker's quote in its own paragraph, with attribution in name-then-verb order (“Maya said”).
- Add your verified name list so first references, grades and later references can be checked.
- For captions, keep the bold lead-in when you paste, and set a style for any caption that differs from the default.
THE RULEBOOK
What gets flagged
Publication guide first, AP for gaps, dictionary for spelling and meaning. Rules marked possible depend on context.
Grammar
- Possible comma spliceTwo independent clauses may be joined only by a comma.
- Possible sentence fragmentA paragraph may lack an independent clause. Intentional journalistic fragments need context.
- Possible missing end punctuationA paragraph has no sentence-ending punctuation.
- Quotation-mark problemsUnclosed or mismatched quotation marks, stray closing marks, commas outside the closing quotation mark, and missing punctuation before a closing quote.
Staff style
- NumbersSmall counts written as figures, numbers at the start of a sentence, and scores not in winner-first order.
- DatesAbbreviated months used without a day, and lowercase weekday names.
- OpeningsStory openings that match a pattern the guide prohibits.
- AttributionVerb-before-name order (“said Maya”), quotes with no attribution, attribution that comes several sentences into a quote, and more than one speaker in a paragraph.
- Names and IDsWith verified name context: student and adult first references, caption IDs and grades, surname-only later references, and repeated full names.
- Team levelsAn abbreviated team level (such as JV) with no earlier full reference.
Verify reference
LQTQ structure (story mode)
- Possible missing leadThe first paragraph was detected as a quote rather than a lead.
- Possible LQTQ order mismatchThe paragraph after the lead isn't a quote.
- Possible missing LQTQ blockBack-to-back paragraphs have the same role instead of alternating transition and quote.
- Incomplete detected LQTQ sequenceFewer than two quote paragraphs were found.
- Possible missing quote endingThe last paragraph isn't a quote.
CAPTION GUIDE
Caption styles
In captions mode, each caption block is checked on its own and never as a story. A: action lead-in (2–4 words, bold, no period) · B: basic photo information · C: complementary information · D: direct quote.
| Style | What's checked |
|---|---|
| Standard · ABCD | Action lead-in, basic photo information, complementary information and a direct quote |
| ABC | A, B and C. No missing-D flag. |
| BC | B and C. No missing-A or missing-D flag. |
| ACD | A, C and D. No missing-B flag. |
| Summary · AB | A and B. No missing-C or missing-D flag. |
| Group caption | At most four photos, with quotes in at least half of the labeled photo entries |
| Photo ident | A full name with the grade in parentheses. No sentence or quote needed. |
| Group ident | Row labels and full names. No sentence or quote needed. |
| Quote caption | D (two quoted sentences), with a student name/grade ID or a verified adult title/name ID in the attribution |
Checking a page of captions
- Choose Captions and set the default caption style.
- Choose the block arrangement. Use Each paragraph is one caption for single-paragraph captions. Use Blank line separates captions for multi-paragraph captions, group captions and row-based group idents.
- Run the check, then open Caption formats. Set a different expected style for any caption that needs one. Results refresh straight away.
- For a group caption, enter the photo count if you know it. Labels such as “Top left:” and “Bottom right:” let the checker count quotes for each photo.
Per-caption choices follow caption order. Reset them after you add, delete or reorder captions.
Caption rules worth knowing
- Caption IDs use the full name and the grade in parentheses:
Maya Chen (11). Story-style grade words (“junior Maya Chen”) are flagged in captions, and the parenthesized ID is flagged in story copy. - Grades are checked for accuracy only against your verified name context. The same caption ID can appear again in a separate caption block.
- “Pictured,” “shown above” and “left to right” are prohibited, and so are questions in staff-written caption text.
- B and C tense detection recognizes common verb patterns only.
- The checker can't see the photo. It can't confirm that B matches the action, that C adds unseen information, or that the person quoted is in the picture. Page-color matching isn't checked.
Your draft stays as written.
Copy Check offers error flags only. It doesn't generate replacement wording or rewrite copy. All checking runs on this page in your browser. Your text isn't uploaded, logged, stored or sent to an AI service. Read the privacy policy ↗
Sources
- 2027 Yearbook Staff Style Guide, pp. 1–4, and Captions – Handout, pp. 1–3 (provided by the adviser).
- Purdue OWL · Proofreading for Errors ↗
- JEA · LQTQ handout ↗