Bow Tie Kreative Writing System
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Rules / clarity

CLR-014 Hard constraint layer: sentence

Retain necessary qualifiers

IF removing a qualifier changes claim truth, scope, uncertainty, population, or time, THEN retain or strengthen it ELSE it may be compressed.

Why the rule exists

Concision must not turn a bounded claim into a false universal.

Condition

The rule fires when this evaluates true. Paths marked below must be present in the fact base; the engine reports the rest rather than guessing them.

  • ALL
    • qualifier.exists eq true
    • ANY
      • qualifier.affects_truth eq true
      • qualifier.affects_scope eq true
      • qualifier.affects_uncertainty eq true
      • qualifier.affects_time eq true

Facts this rule reads

PathSource
qualifier.exists You supply it
qualifier.affects_truth You supply it
qualifier.affects_scope You supply it
qualifier.affects_uncertainty You supply it
qualifier.affects_time You supply it

Then

  1. retain — target qualifier
  2. move — target qualifier

Else

  1. retain — target current_text, No triggering condition is present.

Test cases

TST-010 · [object Object]

Before
This treatment works.
After
In the cited trial, this treatment improved the measured outcome for the studied group.
Reason
Scope and evidence boundaries are restored.

LAKA

Smallest sufficient intervention
Yes
Primary axes

Sources

  • The Sense of Style — Steven Pinker
    Reader-centered clarity informed by linguistics and cognition.
  • Technical Communication — Mike Markel; Stuart A. Selber
    Audience, design, ethics, research, and technical genres.
  • Advertising and Marketing Basics — U.S. Federal Trade Commission link
    Advertising claims must be truthful, non-deceptive, fair, and appropriately substantiated.
The raw rule record

Verbatim from 11-clarity-style-rules.json. Also available at /v1/rules/CLR-014.

{
  "id": "CLR-014",
  "name": "Retain necessary qualifiers",
  "domain": "clarity",
  "layer": "sentence",
  "strength": "hard_constraint",
  "human_logic": "IF removing a qualifier changes claim truth, scope, uncertainty, population, or time, THEN retain or strengthen it ELSE it may be compressed.",
  "when": {
    "all": [
      {
        "path": "qualifier.exists",
        "operator": "eq",
        "value": true
      },
      {
        "any": [
          {
            "path": "qualifier.affects_truth",
            "operator": "eq",
            "value": true
          },
          {
            "path": "qualifier.affects_scope",
            "operator": "eq",
            "value": true
          },
          {
            "path": "qualifier.affects_uncertainty",
            "operator": "eq",
            "value": true
          },
          {
            "path": "qualifier.affects_time",
            "operator": "eq",
            "value": true
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "then": [
    {
      "action": "retain",
      "target": "qualifier"
    },
    {
      "action": "move",
      "target": "qualifier",
      "when": "scope_ambiguous",
      "destination": "next_to_claim"
    }
  ],
  "else": [
    {
      "action": "retain",
      "target": "current_text",
      "reason": "No triggering condition is present."
    }
  ],
  "unless": [],
  "because": "Concision must not turn a bounded claim into a false universal.",
  "diagnostics": [],
  "examples": {},
  "source_ids": [
    "BK-008",
    "BK-026",
    "WEB-012"
  ],
  "laka": {
    "smallest_sufficient_intervention": true,
    "primary_axes": [
      "scope",
      "depth",
      "magnitude",
      "reversibility"
    ]
  }
}

Other clarity rules

  1. CLR-001 Prefer the precise familiar word IF two words are equally accurate AND one is more familiar to the audience, THEN use the familiar word ELSE keep the precision-bearing term. Context default
  2. CLR-002 Define necessary jargon IF a domain term is necessary AND the intended reader may not know it, THEN define it at first use and use it consistently ELSE replace it with plain language. Context default
  3. CLR-003 Expand unfamiliar abbreviations IF an abbreviation is not universally familiar to the audience, THEN spell it out at first use and pair it with the abbreviation ELSE retain. Context default
  4. CLR-004 One term per concept IF multiple terms refer to the same technical concept without rhetorical need, THEN select one preferred term and replace the variants ELSE retain. Context default
  5. CLR-005 One concept per term IF the same term denotes multiple concepts in one context, THEN rename or qualify the concepts ELSE retain. Hard constraint
  6. CLR-006 Replace vague reference words IF THIS, THAT, IT, THEY, FORMER, or LATTER has an uncertain referent, THEN repeat or summarize the referent ELSE retain. Hard constraint
  7. CLR-007 Quantify actionable vagueness IF vague quantity, frequency, time, or probability affects a decision, THEN provide a range, threshold, date, or defined category ELSE retain approximate language. Context default
  8. CLR-008 Use concrete examples after abstractions IF a central abstraction lacks a concrete instance AND the audience knowledge gap is moderate or large, THEN add one representative example ELSE retain. Heuristic