correct spelling or assignment

• Infographics
• Check Your Text

For large texts, please install the app first

To enable large texts, please confirm

To check your text, copy and paste or write directly into the online editor above.

To make sure your sentences are clear and your word choice is perfect, double-check your text.

Yes. This tool checks not only grammar, but also spelling, punctuation, word choice, and even style.

This tool is for anyone who writes in English, from students and learners to professionals, teachers, and even proofreaders. After all, even native speakers of English aren't immune to mistakes.

• Online Editor
• Privacy Policy

Popular Infographics

© 2024 GrammarCheck

ENGLISH GRAMMAR CHECK

Scribens checks the grammar of your texts and finds spelling mistakes.

Perfectly integrates with essential apps

Use Scribens anywhere you type

Avoid copy-pasting and keep the formatting of your original texts: Correct your texts on Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, forums, blogs, etc. Use Scribens as a seamless extension of Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, OpenOffice or LibreOffice.

Use our API to add Scribens to your website!

The advantages of SCRIBENS

A POWERFUL, FREE ENGLISH GRAMMAR CHECKER

Scribens corrects over 250 types of common grammar and spelling mistakes, including verbs, nouns, pronouns, prepositions, homonyms, punctuation, typography, and more.

Online corrections are included with explanations in order to help the user progress his or her English writing skills. Try our sample!

CORRECTS 10X MORE MISTAKES THAN MICROSOFT WORD

Scribens employs a sophisticated syntaxical recognition algorithm that detects even the most subtle errors in a text. In offering you an advanced correction software, Scribens allows you to significantly improve the quality of your writing.

Security and confidentiality

USEFUL WRITING AND STYLE TOOLS

Scribens detects stylistic elements such as repetitions, run-on sentences, redundancies, and more. It even suggests synonyms for every word. It also provides highly detailed statistics on your texts, such as word, sentence, and paragraph count as well as a readability indicator and more.

Scribens provides definitions, conjugations, and synonyms with an accompanying dictionary and thesaurus.

In 2023, 7 million people visited Scribens.com

- 1 million people regularly use Scribens' English grammar corrector at scribens.com -

SCRIBENS PREMIUM SHIFT UP A GEAR

FREE EDITION

Corrects ten times more errors than Microsoft Word

Explanations

Improve your English with grammar rules explained

DICTIONARIES

Definitions, conjugations, and synonyms

Detects repetitions, redundancies, and suggests synonyms

Premium Version

Integration in all your favorite applications

Text checker limited to 200,000 characters (approx. 50 pages)

Removal of ads across the entire site

Save texts and enjoy a better writing experience

More than a Grammar Checker Free Grammar Checker

Languagetool is an ai-based grammar checker. paste your text or start typing below to check grammatical errors, and spelling mistakes across languages., 2000+ organizations trust our ai-based grammar checker.

• European Union
• Spiegel Magazine
• Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
• Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP)
• Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
• Bertelsmann Stiftung
• Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF)
• IP Australia

Try the LanguageTool Editor for a Better Writing Experience

Create your free account.

• Distraction-free writing experience
• Personal Dictionary
• Statistics help you stay on the write path
• Texts are securely stored
• Access even more suggestions for advanced punctuation, style, and typography with the “Picky Mode”
• Choose between dark and light appearance

Our Browser Add-On Works Anywhere on the Web

Receive tips on how to improve your text while typing an e-mail, a blog post, or just a simple tweet. Whatever language you’re using, LanguageTool will automatically detect it and provide suggestions. To respect your privacy, no text is stored by the browser add-on.

Over 1 million users trust LanguageTool with their writing

Top-rated grammar checker for Firefox with over 1 million users

Over 4 million users trust LanguageTool with their writing

Top-rated grammar checker for Chrome with over 3 million users

Do you speak a foreign language?

The most international writing tool.

There are over 7,000 languages and various multilingual countries in the world. LanguageTool helps as an international spell checker in several languages, including:

+ more than 30 other languages and dialects

Reach your potential with statistics.

This feature helps you stay consistent with your writing by tracking your productivity. It also provides an overview of languages used, errors made, and suggestions applied, so you can see for yourself how your writing skills have improved.

Elevate Your Writing With the Grammar, Spell, and Style Checker for Windows

Experience LanguageTool’s advanced spelling, style, and grammar suggestions right in all your favorite writing apps.

Supported Apps

Elevate Your Writing With the Grammar, Spell, and Style Checker for macOS

Integrates with your favorite office program.

Get the best out of your docs and deliver error-free results, whether you’re working on a dissertation, essay, book, or you just want to note something down.

Google Docs Add-on

Check all your texts in Google Docs for grammar and spelling mistakes with the free browser add-on.

macOS App for Microsoft Word

LanguageTool for macOS allows you to check text in Microsoft Word and most of your favorite Mac apps.

Microsoft Word Add-in

Works with Windows, Mac, and even the online version. Requires Word 2016 or later or Office 365.

Text checking for LibreOffice & OpenOffice

• Get for OpenOffice *
• Use it in LibreOffice

* LanguageTool’s grammar check for OpenOffice requires Java 8. Currently not available for the Premium version. Problems installing it? Look here for help: Troubleshooting

Correct Spelling

Do you fall victim to typos and misspellings way too often? LanguageTool finds every mistake and underlines it in red. Spell every name, phrase, and word the write… eh, the right way!

Check Grammar

Grammar rules have never been so easy! LanguageTool will help rid your writing of all grammar gaffes, like incorrect subject-verb-agreement, wrong plural forms, or misuse of grammatical forms.

Fix Punctuation

Commas and dashes and hyphens… Proper punctuation can be tricky—LanguageTool ensures you’re using them right. It can even help you form complex sentences and tell you when you’ve used too many exclamation points!

Confirm Casing

It’s all about the capital, right? And the lowercase letters, too. LanguageTool corrects incorrect casing, whether you’re writing capitalized names, months, places, or national identities.

Improve Style

LanguageTool helps your writing be as stylish as you are by detecting overused phrases, foreign terms, redundant words, and improper word choice. All you have to do to find the best style is look out for the blue underline.

Paraphrasing Tool

Looking for the right words? LanguageTool's paraphraser makes them easier to find by using artificial intelligence to rephrase your sentences to be more formal, fluent, simple or concise.

Frequently Asked Questions

Make your text sound professional and avoid embarrassing style, punctuation, and grammar mistakes

LanguageTool corrects spelling mistakes, but it also offers a full writing analysis of all possible texts. In addition to spelling, grammar, and word choice, language style is also corrected. Plus, it serves as a punctuation checker to ensure your writing is flawless.

LanguageTool excels at identifying and correcting punctuation errors, including commas. Its punctuation checker can differentiate between optional and required commas, ensuring your writing is polished. Plus, it can handle even the most complex sentence structures with its advanced comma check.

The error display and suggestion cards are shown automatically and directly while typing. This means that texts can be checked and corrected in just a few moments. To see synonyms, simply double-click on any word.

LanguageTool masters more than 30 languages and dialects. Its main languages are English, Spanish, German, French, Dutch, and Portuguese. In its English version, you can choose between six standard varieties (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa).

LanguageTool is available in two versions. The free version corrects spelling as well as simple punctuation and some style mistakes. Only the Premium version will show you all errors and give you the best possible text. Team accounts for companies are also available.

LanguageTool is not bound to a specific program or website. There are several extensions and add-ons available, so it can be used in all common internet browsers. In addition, you can find a dedicated text editor as an app for iOS, macOS (Apple), and Windows. All you need is just one user account.

LanguageTool now offers an A.I.-based paraphraser in addition to correction. This can help you to rewrite entire sentences to make them simpler, shorter, or more formal.

If you have to write a term paper, bachelor thesis or master thesis at a university, LanguageTool can help you to be sure that it is free of errors. The writing assistant’s style check is also particularly helpful for other academic texts in schools or at publishing houses. By the way, students get a discount for LanguageTool.

Unleash the professional writer in you with LanguageTool Premium

Go well beyond grammar and spell checking, and impress with clear, precise and stylistically correct writing.

Free Spell Checker

Instantly correct your spelling and improve your writing with our free AI-powered spell checker.

Type error-free, always and everywhere.

Correct your document within 5 minutes

• Proofread on 100+ language issues
• Specialized in academic texts
• Corrections directly in your document

Instantly correct your entire document on 100+ language issues👉

What’s a spell checker?

When you write online, a spell checker shows you the words you misspelled. It can be an individual feature or standalone software.

So, what does it actually fix?

❌ Commonly misspelled words: Words that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings, like “their” vs. “there” or “accept” vs. “except.” 

❌ Typos : Mistakes made while typing, such as missed or extra letters, transposed letters, or incorrect placement of punctuation. 

❌ Compound word errors: When word combinations are split or combined in the wrong way. For example, writing “everyday” when you mean “every day.”

How does this spell checker work?

This is an AI-powered online spell checker. To never worry about spelling mistakes again, just copy-paste or type your text into the box. The spell checker will then go through what you’ve written and mark any errors in red. To fix all your mistakes, click the green “Fix All Errors” button to correct your spelling. 

Why use this spell checker?

Avoid embarrassing mistakes.

You know the feeling when you’ve just sent a text, email, job application, or assignment and you catch a glaring spelling mistake just after you hit send? Embarrassing, and you don’t want to look bad. The spell checker will catch any of these in real time, so you can avoid embarrassing situations. 

Avoid bad grades

You’ve written the best paper there is. Your arguments, your citations—everything’s perfect. But you’ve made some spelling mistakes, and your teacher is punishing you for them. Your grade gets knocked down a peg, and it’s totally unfair. With this spell checker, you don’t need to worry about spelling influencing your final grade. 

Write error-free without wasting time

You’ve written a 30-page thesis. The last thing you want to do is painstakingly go through the document and find any spelling mistakes. The spell checker will instantly find any mistakes, so you don’t have to trawl through all your written text and waste your day proofreading yourself.  

Who can use this spell checker?

Even though anyone can use an online spell checker, it’s especially helpful for people who write a lot, aren’t confident about their writing, or can’t afford to make mistakes.

Have a high-stakes assignment or paper you need to pass? You probably graduate only once, so why not take advantage of every tool available? This spell checker will help boost your writing to a higher level. 

Non-natives

Is English not your first language? No worries. This spell checker will help you write correct English as a non-native speaker. Be confident that what you write won’t contain any errors.

Business professionals

Whether you’re applying for a new job or sending an email to your boss or customers, you want to avoid embarrassing spelling mistakes. With this spell checker, your life will be much easier.

Correct your entire document in 5 minutes

Rather want to upload your entire document and check all your documents for 100+ language issues in minutes? Then Scribbr’s AI-powered proofreading is perfect for you.

With AI-powered proofreading, you can correct your text in no time:

• Upload document
• Wait briefly while all errors are corrected directly in your document
• Correct errors with one click

Proofread my document

Spell checker for all English variants

UK and US English and other variants differ significantly in the way they are written. This online spell checker supports major English dialects, like:

• Canadian English
• Australian English

Why users love our Spell Checker

Save time and upload your entire document to fix it in minutes👉

Scribbr & academic integrity.

Scribbr is committed to protecting academic integrity. Our plagiarism checker , AI Detector , Citation Generator , proofreading services , paraphrasing tool , grammar checker , summarizer , and free Knowledge Base content are designed to help students produce quality academic papers.

We make every effort to prevent our software from being used for fraudulent or manipulative purposes.

Ask our team

Want to contact us directly? No problem.  We  are always here for you.

• Email [email protected]
• Start live chat
• Call +1 (510) 822-8066
• WhatsApp +31 20 261 6040

Frequently asked questions

Scribbr’s spell checker finds typos and misused words, unlike other spell checkers. It considers the context—the sentence’s subject and meaning—and the spelling and meaning of a word.

English, German, and French are supported. Because there are different English dialects worldwide, this spell checker supports US, UK, Canadian, and Australian English.

Yes, it is. It’s also completely ad-free, and no sign-up is required.

Grammar Checker

Find and correct mistakes in grammar, spelling, and punctuation with this advanced free tool.

Suggest a feature

Use cases of Grammar Checker

Grammar Checker tool helps you seamlessly polish your writing and make it error-free by using advanced algorithms designs to meticulously analyze your text for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.

Professional Documents : Ensure error-free reports, proposals, and presentations for a polished and professional image.

Academic Excellence : Boost the quality of academic papers by eliminating grammar and spelling errors, impressing professors.

Efficient Email Communication : Craft flawless emails to convey your messages clearly and professionally in a business context.

Content Creation : Enhance the quality of blog posts, articles, and marketing materials for a more engaging audience experience.

Resume Perfection : Impress employers with a perfectly crafted resume, showcasing attention to detail and communication skills.

Language Learning Support : Aid language learners in improving grammar and language usage for effective communication.

Legal and Compliance Documents : Ensure legal documents are error-free, maintaining accuracy and compliance with industry standards.

Streamlined Social Media Presence : Present a polished online presence by checking grammar in social media posts, captions, and comments.

Effortless Proofreading : Save time on manual proofreading by quickly identifying and correcting grammar issues with a grammar checker.

Confident Writing : Write with confidence, knowing that your text is free from grammar mistakes, enhancing your overall communication effectiveness.

The technology behind Grammar Checker

Grammar Checker Tool uses a language model that learns patterns, grammar, and vocabulary from large amounts of text data – then uses that knowledge to generate human-like text based on a given prompt or input. The generated text combines both the model's learned information and its understanding of the input.

Sentence Checker

Free online spell and grammar checker based on  LanguageTool an open source proofreading software. To check the text please type or paste it into the field below and click Check text.

• 0 spelling errors
• 0 grammar errors
• 0 style issues

Check text to get stats

No mistakes were found

Check your text for errors, choose the best possible corrections from the suggested ones, and learn with the help of our service. The algorithm will detect syntactic, grammatical, and stylistic errors, suggest replacement options, and explain its decision in detail. On SentenceChecker.com you can check the text of any complexity, because our databases contain a large number of rules. We have made sure that working with the text is convenient and fast for you. Here’s how to use our tool...

Paste or Enter Text

There is a field for your text on the website. You can enter your own text into it or paste it by copying it from another location. You can use keyboard shortcuts to undo and revert changes:

• Windows, Linux: Ctrl+Z (undo), Ctrl+Shift+Z, and Ctrl+Y (redo);
• macOS: Cmd+Z (undo), Cmd+Shift+Z (redo).
• iOS, iPadOS: tap with three fingers on the input field, left arrow (undo), right arrow (redo);
• Android: native implementation, depends on the manufacturer.

Select the Language to Check the Text

Our site offers a large number of languages, as well as different dialects, if any. Choose the appropriate language for your text. The language selection field is located to the left above the input field. We also recommend that you take into dialect, because the rules between them often differ.

Languages supported by our service: Arabic, Asturian, Belarusian, Breton, Catalan, Catalan (Valencian), Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English (Australian), English (British), English (Canadian), English (New Zealand), English (South African), English (US), Esperanto, French, Galician, German (Austria), German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Greek, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Angola), Portuguese(Brazil), Portuguese (Mozambique), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Ukrainian.

Run the Text Validation Algorithm

Click on the «Check text» button on the right under the input field, this action will start the algorithm. The text will be sent to our server, where the algorithm will check it for errors and return the result. We do not store your text on our servers. During the verification process, the input field becomes unavailable. After the server returns the result, the service will select the sections of text where the algorithm detected some issue. Now you can proceed to correction.

Correct Errors in the Text

Information about the errors is displayed to the right above the input field. You can click on any of the items and start correcting errors of this category, or click on the highlighted areas in the text and follow them.

When you see the text «No mistakes were found» instead of the number of errors, it means that the text is checked and contains no errors. If «Check text to get stats» is displayed instead, then you need to perform an additional check by clicking on the «Check text» button.

In some cases, the algorithm does not provide options for replacing errors, but offers to ignore them. This is due to the type of error or unfamiliar situations. Usually, this does not happen. If you think that everything is correct, then you can ignore the error.

Ignoring the Error

Ignoring the error means excluding this rule from the list for text checkup. This error will not be detected throughout the text and it will not be brought to your attention later in the course of work. This feature is necessary when you want to leave the writing as it is and do not want to be distracted by it in the future.

Your current User-Agent string appears to be from an automated process, if this is incorrect, please click this link:

• Sign Up For Free

Free Spelling and Grammar Checker

Check your text for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors with perfect tense's free spell checker., grammar score, for an even more efficient solution, you can add perfect tense to your website, platform, or use one of our existing integrations., no downloads. no sign ups. just a free and reliable spelling and grammar checker..

The Perfect Tense spelling and grammar checker is completely free to use. There is no download or sign up required to use Perfect Tense. Unlike other online spelling and grammar checkers, our free version corrects all of the same spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes as our full version.

To use Perfect Tense, just paste or type your text into the text area above and any errors will automatically be underlined. Perfect Tense underlines suggestions in yellow and corrections in red. Once you hover over the underlined word, Perfect Tense will show the recommended replacement, which you can choose to accept or ignore.

In addition to spelling, grammar, and punctuation correction, this free checker also displays the number of characters, the number of words, and a grammar score that assesses the overall quality of the text you entered. The score is based on the frequency and severity of errors and updates as you accept and reject Perfect Tense replacements.

What types of mistakes does Perfect Tense fix?

Perfect Tense uses Artificial Intelligence to understand the context and meaning of text in order to suggest accurate corrections for thousands of types of grammar errors.

Perfect Tense works where you work

Perfect Tense can be implemented in a few different ways. You can use our API to build a custom solution, use our existing integrations within tools you already use, or add our ready-to-use Javascript library directly to your website.

• More from M-W
• To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In

Definition of assignment

task , duty , job , chore , stint , assignment mean a piece of work to be done.

task implies work imposed by a person in authority or an employer or by circumstance.

duty implies an obligation to perform or responsibility for performance.

job applies to a piece of work voluntarily performed; it may sometimes suggest difficulty or importance.

chore implies a minor routine activity necessary for maintaining a household or farm.

stint implies a carefully allotted or measured quantity of assigned work or service.

assignment implies a definite limited task assigned by one in authority.

Examples of assignment in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'assignment.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

see assign entry 1

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing assignment

• self - assignment

Dictionary Entries Near assignment

Cite this entry.

“Assignment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assignment. Accessed 11 Aug. 2024.

Legal Definition

Legal definition of assignment, more from merriam-webster on assignment.

Nglish: Translation of assignment for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of assignment for Arabic Speakers

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the day.

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Plural and possessive names: a guide, commonly misspelled words, how to use em dashes (—), en dashes (–) , and hyphens (-), absent letters that are heard anyway, how to use accents and diacritical marks, popular in wordplay, 8 words for lesser-known musical instruments, it's a scorcher words for the summer heat, 7 shakespearean insults to make life more interesting, plant names that sound like insults, 10 words from taylor swift songs (merriam's version), games & quizzes.

Assignation or Assignment – Difference, Meaning & Examples

Marcus Froland

July 15, 2024

When learning English, it’s natural to find words that seem very similar, but have entirely different meanings. That’s just one of the many challenges that language learners face. Two such words are assignation and assignment . They sound so alike, you might think they’re interchangeable. Yet, they are not.

In this article, we are going to put these two under the spotlight. Our focus is to help you understand the difference between assignation and assignment , provide their meanings, and offer clear examples. It’s about getting you comfortable with these words and helping you use them correctly in your English journey. So, let’s get started!

The critical difference between Assignation and Assignment lies in their usage and context. Assignation primarily refers to an agreement or appointment for a meeting. For instance, “They had an assignation at the coffee shop.” On the other hand, an Assignment refers to a task or duty assigned to someone. For instance, “He completed his math assignment.”

Both terms originate from the verb ‘assign’ but are utilized differently. Assignation is more often used in legal or formal settings, but assignment is common in educational or work contexts. So, if you’re scheduling a secretive meeting, use assignation. But if you’re handing out tasks or duties, use assignment.

Understanding the Meaning of Assignation

The word assignation is rich in meaning, covering everything simple to secret. At its basic level, it means assigning tasks or property. But, it has a more exciting side in stories. Here it often means secret meetings , tied to love or forbidden activities.

Definition of Assignation

Traditionally, assignation is about giving out duties or rights. It’s used in law and history to talk about dividing up or handing out responsibilities. This is like using the word assign in everyday situations. But add a dash of mystery or love, and assignation takes on a new life. It then means secret meetings or private moments.

Examples of Assignation in Sentences

Let’s look at some examples of assignation to get a clear picture:

• In books, an assignation can mean secret meetings between lovers, adding mystery.
• News stories might hint at illicit relationships by mentioning assignation, adding a thrill.
• Old documents might talk about assignation when they discuss dividing land rights, in a more straightforward sense.
• In romantic stories today, a secret meeting in a cafe could be an assignation, hinting at hidden love.

Understanding the Meaning of Assignment

The word assignment holds great importance in various areas. These include education, work, and law. Exploring its meanings helps us understand its wide use and importance.

Definition of Assignment

In schools, an assignment is the work teachers give to students. It helps to check how much students understand and how they perform. At work, assignments are tasks given to employees. These tasks keep the business running smoothly and productively.

In the legal world, an assignment means transferring rights or property . This is key to understand how people can give or receive ownership and duties legally.

Examples of Assignment in Sentences

• For their big project, the students got an academic work challenging them to research and present their findings.
• The boss gave a hard task to the new employee to test how well they manage work under pressure.
• With the contract signed, the ownership officially changed hands through a property transfer .

Understanding assignment in its various forms is crucial. It allows us to be more effective in school, at work, and in legal matters. Recognizing these differences ensures we communicate and act clearly and confidently.

Assignation or Assignment: Key Differences

It’s vital to understand the difference between assignation and assignment for clear communication. The term assignation brings to mind secret or romantic meetings. It can also mean the act of assigning something. Meanwhile, assignment is about giving out tasks, duties, or responsibilities. This is common in school or work.

Assignation and assignment have different uses. Assignation suggests secrecy and is linked with private meetings. On the opposite side, assignment talks about clear duties or legal handovers. It doesn’t have the secret flavor that assignation does.

To avoid confusion, it’s key to know when to use each term. Calling a work task an assignation could suggest something secret or wrong. So, choosing the right word matters:

• Use assignation for secret or love meetings done quietly.
• Use assignment when you mean work tasks or handing over property, in formal or work settings.

Using the right term, assignation or assignment, makes your meaning clear. This way, you won’t confuse anyone.

Using Assignation and Assignment Correctly

It’s key to know how assignation and assignment differ. Each word has its own meaning. Using them right is key to avoid mix-ups.

When to Use Assignation

The word assignation is about secret meetings. These are often for romantic reasons. Books use it to talk about meetings held in private.

It hints at something hidden or confidential. This makes it perfect for talks that need to stay under wraps.

When to Use Assignment

Assignment , on the other hand, is about giving tasks. It’s used in schools, work, and law. For example, it can mean homework or handing over property rights.

This word doesn’t suggest secrets like assignation does. It’s all about structured, formal tasks.

Knowing these differences helps you communicate clearly. Use assignment for tasks, and assignation for secret meet-ups. This keeps your meaning clear and stops any confusion. It’s especially important in professional settings to avoid the wrong idea about secret meetings.

Share this:

Subscribe now and transform your language skills with insider tips, tricks, and exclusive content!

You May Also Like:

Repository vs. Depository – What’s the Difference?

Different from or different than: what’s the difference, trainer vs. trainor – what’s the difference, prior vs. previous – what’s the difference, despite vs. in spite of – what’s the difference, what does nemesis mean definition & examples, two minute english.

English Made Simple: Two-Minute Lessons for Busy Learners

Copyright © 2024 • TwoMinEnglish.com

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of assignment in English

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

• It was a plum assignment - more of a vacation really.
• He took this award-winning photograph while on assignment in the Middle East .
• His two-year assignment to the Mexico office starts in September .
• She first visited Norway on assignment for the winter Olympics ten years ago.
• He fell in love with the area after being there on assignment for National Geographic in the 1950s.
• act as something
• all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy) idiom
• be at work idiom
• be in work idiom
• housekeeping
• in the line of duty idiom
• join duty idiom
• undertaking

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

assignment | Intermediate English

Assignment | business english, examples of assignment, collocations with assignment.

These are words often used in combination with assignment .

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

Translations of assignment

Get a quick, free translation!

Word of the Day

towards the direction that is the opposite to the one in which you are facing

Robbing, looting, and embezzling: talking about stealing

Learn more with +Plus

• Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
• Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
• Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
• Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
• English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
• English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
• English–Dutch Dutch–English
• English–French French–English
• English–German German–English
• English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
• English–Italian Italian–English
• English–Japanese Japanese–English
• English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
• English–Polish Polish–English
• English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
• English–Spanish Spanish–English
• English–Swedish Swedish–English
• Dictionary +Plus Word Lists
• on assignment
• Intermediate    Noun
• Collocations
• Translations
• All translations

To add assignment to a word list please sign up or log in.

Add assignment to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{message}}

Something went wrong.

There was a problem sending your report.

Look up a word, learn it forever.

/əˈsaɪnmənt/.

Other forms: assignments

Whether you’re an international spy with a new mission or a high school student with math homework — when you get an assignment , you’d better do it! An assignment is a task that someone in authority has asked you to do.

The word assignment is just the noun form of the common verb assign , which you use when you want to give someone a duty or a job. When you assign something, that something is called an assignment . The word can also refer to the act of distributing something. If you are distributing new office furniture at work, you might say, “ Assignment of the new chairs will begin tomorrow.”

• noun an undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor) see more see less types: show 6 types... hide 6 types... school assignment , schoolwork a school task performed by a student to satisfy the teacher writing assignment , written assignment an assignment to write something classroom project a school task requiring considerable effort classwork the part of a student's work that is done in the classroom homework , prep , preparation preparatory school work done outside school (especially at home) lesson a task assigned for individual study type of: labor , project , task , undertaking any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted
• noun a duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces) “a hazardous assignment ” synonyms: duty assignment see more see less types: show 10 types... hide 10 types... guard , guard duty , sentry duty , sentry go the duty of serving as a sentry fatigue , fatigue duty labor of a nonmilitary kind done by soldiers (cleaning or digging or draining or so on) charge , commission , mission a special assignment that is given to a person or group reassignment assignment to a different duty sea-duty , service abroad , shipboard duty naval service aboard a ship at sea shore duty naval service at land bases fool's errand a fruitless mission mission impossible an extremely dangerous or difficult mission martyr operation , sacrifice operation , suicide mission killing or injuring others while annihilating yourself; usually accomplished with a bomb secondment the detachment of a person from their regular organization for temporary assignment elsewhere type of: duty work that you are obliged to perform for moral or legal reasons
• noun the act of putting a person into a non-elective position synonyms: appointment , designation , naming see more see less types: show 6 types... hide 6 types... nomination the act of officially naming a candidate co-optation , co-option the act of appointing summarily (with or without the appointee's consent) delegacy the appointment of a delegate ordinance , ordination the act of ordaining; the act of conferring (or receiving) holy orders recognition designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak in a deliberative body laying on of hands laying hands on a person's head to invoke spiritual blessing in Christian ordination type of: conclusion , decision , determination the act of making up your mind about something
• noun the act of distributing something to designated places or persons “the first task is the assignment of an address to each datum” synonyms: assigning see more see less types: allocation , storage allocation (computer science) the assignment of particular areas of a magnetic disk to particular data or instructions type of: distribution the act of distributing or spreading or apportioning
• noun (law) a transfer of property by deed of conveyance synonyms: grant see more see less types: apanage , appanage a grant (by a sovereign or a legislative body) of resources to maintain a dependent member of a ruling family land grant a grant of public land (as to a railway or college) type of: transferred possession , transferred property a possession whose ownership changes or lapses
• noun the instrument by which a claim or right or interest or property is transferred from one person to another see more see less type of: instrument , legal document , legal instrument , official document (law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right

Vocabulary lists containing assignment

The Dawes Act, or General Allotment Act of 1887, was a law that allowed the U.S. government to take Native American tribal lands and divide them into 40 acre lots for individual Native Americans. The goal was to break up communal tribal lands and speed the assimilation of Native Americans into American society. The Dawes Act caused great suffering with much of the land winding up in the hands of white settlers.

Learn these words from the autobiography by David Lubar (Inside: Level B, Unit 4). Here are our links to the selections of "Every Body Is a Winner": The Human Machine; My Fabulous Footprint , The Beat Goes On; All Pumped Up , Two Left Feet, Two Left Hands , How Coach Told Me; Bionics Here are our links to the units of Level B: Unit 1 , Unit 2 , Unit 3 , Unit 4 , Unit 5 , Unit 6 , Unit 7 , Unit 8 Here are our links to the Inside books: Level A , Level B , Level C Here is our link to a list of academic vocabulary for Inside: Academic Vocabulary

Prepare for the IELTS exam with this list of words related to education and academics.

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement..

Free Spell Checker

Type error-free, always and everywhere.

Correct your document within 5 minutes

• Proofread on 100+ language issues
• Specialized in academic texts
• Corrections directly in your document

Hire a human proofreader👉

What’s a spell checker?

When you write online, a spell checker shows you the words you misspelled. It can be an individual feature or standalone software.

So, what does it actually fix?

❌ Commonly misspelled words: Words that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings, like “their” vs. “there” or “accept” vs. “except.” 

❌ Typos : Mistakes made while typing, such as missed or extra letters, transposed letters, or incorrect placement of punctuation. 

❌ Compound word errors: When word combinations are split or combined in the wrong way. For example, writing “everyday” when you mean “every day.”

AI-Powered spell Checker

This is an AI-powered online spell checker. To never worry about spelling mistakes again, just copy-paste or type your text into the box. The spell checker will then go through what you’ve written and mark any errors in red. To fix all your mistakes, click the green “Fix All Errors” button to correct your spelling. 

Why use this spell checker?

Avoid embarrassing mistakes.

You know the feeling when you’ve just sent a text, email, job application, or assignment and you catch a glaring spelling mistake just after you hit send? Embarrassing, and you don’t want to look bad. The spell checker will catch any of these in real time, so you can avoid embarrassing situations. 

Avoid bad grades

You’ve written the best paper there is. Your arguments, your citations—everything’s perfect. But you’ve made some spelling mistakes, and your teacher is punishing you for them. Your grade gets knocked down a peg, and it’s totally unfair. With this spell checker, you don’t need to worry about spelling influencing your final grade. 

Write error-free without wasting time

You’ve written a 30-page thesis. The last thing you want to do is painstakingly go through the document and find any spelling mistakes. The spell checker will instantly find any mistakes, so you don’t have to trawl through all your written text and waste your day proofreading yourself.  

Who can use this spell checker?

Even though anyone can use an online spell checker, it’s especially helpful for people who write a lot, aren’t confident about their writing, or can’t afford to make mistakes.

Have a high-stakes assignment or paper you need to pass? You probably graduate only once, so why not take advantage of every tool available? This spell checker will help boost your writing to a higher level. 

Non-native speakers

Is English not your first language? No worries. This spell checker will help you write correct English as a non-native speaker. Be confident that what you write won’t contain any errors.

Business professionals

Whether you’re applying for a new job or sending an email to your boss or customers, you want to avoid embarrassing spelling mistakes. With this spell checker, your life will be much easier.

Spell checker for all English variants

UK and US English and other variants differ significantly in the way they’re written. This online spell checker supports major English dialects, like:

• Canadian English
• Australian English

Why users love our Spell Checker

Looking for a British proofreader?

Ask our team.

Want to contact us directly? No problem. We are always here for you.

• Chat with us
• Email [email protected]
• Call +44 (0)20 3917 4242
• WhatsApp +31 20 261 6040

Frequently asked questions

Yes, it is. It’s also completely ad-free, and no sign-up is required.

English, German, and French are supported. Because there are different English dialects worldwide, this spell checker supports UK, US, Canadian, and Australian English.

Scribbr’s spell checker finds typos and misused words, unlike other spell checkers. It considers the context—the sentence’s subject and meaning—and the spelling and meaning of a word.

Assignation vs. Assignment vs. Assassination

a secret rendezvous (especially between lovers)

The lovers set a midnight assignation at the hotel.

a duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces and in school)

Our first assignment was to write an essay about our family history.

the act of killing someone (usually a public figure)

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. was an awful thing.

• Patent Laws, Regulations, Policies & Procedures
• Manual of Patent Examining Procedure
• Chapter 0300
• Section 323

323 Procedures for Correcting Errors in Recorded Assignment Document [R-08.2012]

An error in a recorded assignment document will be corrected by Assignment Division provided a “corrective document” is submitted. The “corrective document” must include the following:

• (A) A copy of the original assignment document with the corrections made therein. The corrections must be initialed and dated by the party conveying the interest; and
• (B) A new Recordation Form Cover Sheet (form PTO-1595) (See MPEP § 302.07 ).

The new recordation form cover sheet must identify the submission as a “corrective document” submission and indicate the reel and frame number where the incorrectly recorded assignment document appears. The original cover sheet should be submitted with the corrective document. The corrective document will be recorded and given a new reel and frame number and recording date. The recording fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.21(h) is required for each patent application and patent against which the corrective document is being recorded. See MPEP § 302.06 .

Corrections may be made on the original assignment document, for example, by lining out an incorrect patent or application number in a merger or change of name (see MPEP § 314 ).

Office policy regarding recordation of assignment documents is directed toward maintaining a complete history of claimed interests in property and, therefore, recorded assignment documents will not be expunged even if subsequently found to be invalid. See In re Ratny, 24 USPQ2d 1713 (Comm’r Pat. 1992). Once a document is recorded with the Assignment Services Division, the Assignment Services Division will not remove the papers from the record relating to that application or patent. See MPEP § 323.01(d) .

323.01 Correction of Error in Recorded Cover Sheet [R-08.2012]

37 cfr 3.34  correction of cover sheet errors..

• (1) The error is apparent when the cover sheet is compared with the recorded document to which it pertains and
• (2) A corrected cover sheet is filed for recordation.
• (b) The corrected cover sheet must be accompanied by a copy of the document originally submitted for recording and by the recording fee as set forth in § 3.41 .

Any alleged error in a recorded cover sheet will only be corrected if the error is apparent from a comparison with the recorded assignment document. The corrected cover sheet should be directed to Assignment Division.

During the recording process, the Assignment Services Division will check to see that a cover sheet is complete and record the data exactly as it appears on the cover sheet. The Assignment Services Division does not compare the cover sheet with the assignment document (or other document affecting title). Once the document is recorded, the Office will issue a notice of recordation.

The party recording the document should carefully review the notice of recordation.

Typographical errors made by the Office will be corrected promptly and without charge upon written request directed to the Assignment Services Division. For any other error, the party recording the document is responsible for filing the papers and paying the recordation fees necessary to correct the error, using the procedures set forth in MPEP §§ 323.01(a) through 323.01(c) .

323.01(a) Typographical Errors in Cover Sheet [R-08.2012]

A party who wishes to correct a typographical error on a recorded cover sheet must submit the following to the Assignment Services Division:

• (A) a copy of the originally recorded assignment document (or other document affecting title);
• (B) a corrected cover sheet; and
• (C) the required fee for each application or patent to be corrected ( 37 CFR 3.41 ).

See 37 CFR 3.34 . The party requesting correction should also submit a copy of the original cover sheet, to facilitate comparison of the corrected cover sheet with the originally recorded document.

The party filing the corrected cover sheet should check the box titled "Other" in the area of the sheet requesting "Nature of Conveyance," and indicate that the submission is to correct an error in a cover sheet previously recorded. The party should also identify the reel and frame numbers (if known), and the nature of the correction (e.g., "correction to the spelling of assignor’s name" or "correction of application number or patent number" ). The Office will then compare the corrected cover sheet with the original cover sheet and the originally recorded assignment document (or other document affecting title) to determine whether the correction is typographical in nature. If the error is typographical in nature, the Assignment Services Division will record the corrected cover sheet and correct the Assignment Historical Database.

If the original cover sheet contains a typographical error that does not affect title to the application or patent against which the original assignment or name change is recorded, the Assignment Services Division will correct the Assignment Historical Database and permit the recording party to keep the original date of recordation.

If the original cover sheet contains a typographical error that affects title to the application or patent against which the assignment or name change is recorded, the recording party will not be entitled to keep the original date of recordation. Rather, the Assignment Services Division will correct its automated records and change the date of recordation to the date the corrected cover sheet was received in the Office.

323.01(b) Typographical Errors in Recorded Assignment Document [R-08.2012]

If there is an error in the recorded assignment document (or other document affecting title) rather than in the cover sheet, the party responsible for an erroneous document (e.g., the assignor) must either create and record a new document or make corrections to the original document and re-record it. If an assignor is not available to correct an original document or execute a new one, the assignee may submit an affidavit or declaration in which the assignee identifies the error and requests correction. The affidavit or declaration must be accompanied by a copy of the originally recorded papers, a cover sheet, and the required fee for each application or patent to be corrected ( 37 CFR 3.41 ). See In re Abacab International Computers Ltd. , 21 USPQ2d 1078 (Comm’r Pat. 1987).

323.01(c) Assignment or Change of Name Improperly Filed and Recorded by Another Person Against Owner’s Application or Patent [R-07.2015]

When the owner of an application or registration discovers that another party has improperly recorded an assignment or name change against the owner’s application or patent, the owner must correct the error by having a corrected cover sheet filed with the Assignment Services Division.

The owner should contact the party who recorded the papers with the erroneous information and request that such party record corrective papers. However, if the party cannot be located or is unwilling to file corrective papers, then the true owner must record the necessary papers with the Assignment Services Division to correct the error.

Specifically, the owner should submit the following to the Assignment Services Division:

• (A) a completed cover sheet identifying the application or patent against which the assignment was improperly recorded;
• (B) an affidavit or declaration (1) identifying itself as the correct owner, (2) stating that the previously recorded document was submitted with erroneous information, and (3) providing the reel and frame number of the previously recorded document; and
• (C) the required fee ( 37 CFR 3.41 ) for each application or patent to be corrected.

The affidavit or declaration should include a summary of the true chain of title to make it clear that the chain of title for the application or patent identified should not be considered altered by the incorrect assignment or name change, and a statement that the original applicant or patentee or last correct assignee has been, and continues to be, the owner of the application, or patent at issue.

On the corrected cover sheet, the owner should check the box titled "Other" in the area of the cover sheet requesting the "Nature of Conveyance," and indicate that the submission is to correct an error made in a previously recorded document that erroneously affects the identified application(s), or patent(s). The party should also write the name of the correct owner in both the box requesting the name of the conveying party and the box requesting the name and address of the receiving party; this is to make it clear that ownership never changed and that any assignment or name change recorded against the application(s) or patent(s) was erroneous.

323.01(d) Expungement of Assignment Records [R-07.2015]

Petitions to correct, modify or "expunge" assignment records are rarely granted and will not result in the removal of a document from the assignment records. Such petitions are granted only if the petitioner can prove that:

• (A) the normal corrective procedures outlined in MPEP § 323.01(a) through § 323.01(c) will not provide the petitioner with adequate relief; and
• (B) the integrity of the assignment records will not be affected by granting the petition.

Assignment records are recognized as distinct from application file records. Even if a petition to "expunge" a document is granted with respect to a particular application or patent, the image of the recorded document will remain in the records of the Assignment Services Division at the same reel and frame number, and the image will appear when someone views that reel and frame number. The Office will, however, delete the links to the application or patent that was the subject of the petition, so that no information about the recorded document will appear when someone searches for that application or patent number in the Assignment Historical Database. A redacted version of the "expunged" document must be recorded and will appear in the assignment records instead of the "expunged" document upon the granting of the petition. An additional assignment of the “correct” document may be recorded in addition to the redacted version where the redacted version is incomplete or the original document was not correct.

• 301.01-Accessibility of Assignment Records
• 302.01-Assignment Document Must Be Copy for Recording
• 302.02-Translation of Assignment Document
• 302.03-Identifying Patent or Application
• 302.04-Foreign Assignee May Designate Domestic Representative
• 302.05-Address of Assignee
• 302.06-Fee for Recording
• 302.07-Assignment Document Must Be Accompanied by a Cover Sheet 
• 302.08-Mailing Address for Submitting Assignment Documents
• 302.09-Facsimile Submission of Assignment Documents
• 302.10-Electronic Submission of Assignment Documents
• 303-Assignment Documents Not Endorsed on Pending Applications
• 304‑305-[Reserved]
• 306.01-Assignment of an Application Claiming the Benefits of a Provisional Application
• 307-Issue to Non-Applicant Assignee
• 308-Issue to Applicant
• 309-Restrictions Upon Employees of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• 310-Government License Rights to Contractor-Owned Inventions Made Under Federally Sponsored Research and Development
• 311-Filing of Notice of Arbitration Awards
• 312-[Reserved]
• 313-Recording of Licenses, Security Interests, and Documents Other Than Assignments
• 314-Certificates of Change of Name or of Merger
• 315-Indexing Against a Recorded Certificate
• 316-[Reserved]
• 317.01-Recording Date
• 317.02-Correction of Unrecorded Returned Documents and Cover Sheets
• 317.03-Effect of Recording
• 318-Documents Not to be Placed in Files
• 319-[Reserved]
• 320-Title Reports
• 321‑322-[Reserved]
• 323.01(a)-Typographical Errors in Cover Sheet
• 323.01(b)-Typographical Errors in Recorded Assignment Document
• 323.01(c)-Assignment or Change of Name Improperly Filed and Recorded by Another Person Against Owner’s Application or Patent
• 323.01(d)-Expungement of Assignment Records
• 324-Establishing Right of Assignee To Take Action in Application Filed Before September 16, 2012
• 325-Establishing Right of Assignee To Take Action in Application Filed On or After September 16, 2012

• Accessibility
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Emergencies/Security Alerts
• Information Quality Guidelines
• Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act
• Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation (NoFEAR) Act
• Budget & Performance
• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
• Department of Commerce NoFEAR Act Report
• Regulations.gov
• STOP!Fakes.gov
• Department of Commerce
• Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!)
• USPTO Webmaster

Makeup, make-up or make up

| Grammarist

Makeup is 1.) cosmetics 2.) the composition of something 3.) in American English, a special test or assignment given to a student who has missed a test or assignment. Make up is used as a noun or an adjective. Makeup may also be rendered as the hyphenated make-up , though since the 1980s the hyphen has been dropped for the most part. The word makeup was coined in 1821 to mean manner in which something is put together, it was first used to mean cosmetics in 1886.

Make up is a verb phrase which means 1.) to compose 2.) to invent 3.) to arrange 4.) to apply cosmetics 5.) to reconcile after a quarrel. Make up is also used as an adjective.

Examples The Columbian singer celebrated her 39th birthday by reminding us all how glowing she is without a drop of makeup on, posting a picture of her “birthday bun” on her official social media accounts. ( USA Today ) And at this point she might as well just move into Lagerfeld’s guest room, she’s got so much going on for the brand — after all, it was just announced that she’ll front its next makeup campaign. ( People Magazin e) Gender makeup of Allegheny County Council a concern for some ( The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ) That was the makeup of Arsenal’s midfield for their FA Cup fourth round clash with Burnley at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, with Mohamed Elneny making his debut, Francis Coquelin back from injury and Alex Iwobi handed only a third start of his senior career. ( The National ) Stacy Caldwell, College Board’s vice president for college readiness assessment, said the makeup test will probably be scheduled in a month or so, according to Associated Press. ( The South China Morning POst ) Kristen Stewart has landed an amazing new beauty gig: she’s the new face of Chanel make-up. ( Marie Claire Magazine ) John Elway realizes as well as anyone just how difficult a decision it is for an elite quarterback to retire, and he has no plans of putting pressure on Peyton Manning to make up his mind right away. ( The Columbus Dispatch ) If you missed Bruce Springsteen’s Madison Square Garden concert due to Mother Nature’s interference, the Boss has something to make up for the disappointment. ( Billboard Magazine )

Grammarist is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. When you buy via the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.

2024 © Grammarist, a Found First Marketing company. All rights reserved.

How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Related and recent

Comments are disabled due to your privacy settings. To re-enable, please adjust your cookie preferences.

APA Style Monthly

Subscribe to the APA Style Monthly newsletter to get tips, updates, and resources delivered directly to your inbox.

Welcome! Thank you for subscribing.

APA Style Guidelines

Browse APA Style writing guidelines by category

• Abbreviations
• Bias-Free Language
• Capitalization
• In-Text Citations
• Italics and Quotation Marks
• Paper Format
• Punctuation
• Research and Publication
• Spelling and Hyphenation
• Tables and Figures

Full index of topics