Writing rules

A writing rule bounds one countable property of a text: it names a metric, a side (max or min) and a value. Rules are rows of the rules table of Skryba's fleet database, managed with skryba rule. They are counted, not judged: the same text always gets the same verdict, no model is asked, and a person can recount any violation by hand.

How a text is cut

• A paragraph is a run of lines between blank lines.
• A sentence ends after ., ! or ? — with any closing quote or bracket — when whitespace or the end of the text follows. Lines of running prose are joined first, so a sentence wrapped across lines is one sentence. A list line or a heading is a unit of its own even without a full stop. Nothing tries to tell an abbreviation from a sentence end.
• A word is a run of non-whitespace. For word length, only its letters count, and a run with no letter (a number, a dash) is not a word.
• A list line starts with - , * , + , or digits followed by . or ) . A heading line starts with #.

Metrics

Metric	Measured	Values per text
sentence-words	words in every sentence	one per sentence
mean-sentence-words	mean words per sentence	one
word-characters	mean letters per word	one
paragraph-sentences	sentences in every paragraph	one per paragraph
paragraph-words	words in every paragraph	one per paragraph
list-lines	bulleted or numbered list lines	one
heading-lines	heading lines	one
phrase	occurrences of the rule's phrase, matched exactly, case included	one

A rule passes when every value is on its side of the bound: at most the value for max, at least it for min. A text with no sentence gives the mean metrics nothing to measure, and the rule passes with no observed value.

Where a rule's value comes from

skryba writing-style profile measures the first five metrics over every passage the person holds, with the smallest, mean and largest value and any quantile asked for. A sentence-words rule at the value nine in ten of the person's sentences stay under holds a rewrite to how they actually write; a phrase rule with --max 0 bans a word they never use.

Where rules apply

Every rule held is told to the generator of every rewrite candidate and counted on every candidate; one that breaks a rule is not selected, and the rewrite report names what it broke. skryba rule check counts the rules on any text without rewriting it. Skryba Desktop's Your voice › Rules does both.