Bow Tie Kreative Writing System
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Rules / grammar

GRM-017 Hard constraint layer: phrase

Modifier beside its target

IF a modifier can attach to the wrong head, THEN move it beside the intended target or expand the phrase ELSE retain.

Why the rule exists

Attachment ambiguity changes who did what, when, where, or to what degree.

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
    • modifier exists
    • modifier.attachment_ambiguous eq true

Facts this rule reads

PathSource
modifier You supply it
modifier.attachment_ambiguous You supply it

Then

  1. move — target modifier
  2. expand — target modifier

Else

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

LAKA

Smallest sufficient intervention
Yes
Primary axes

Sources

  • The Elements of Style — William Strunk Jr.; E. B. White
    Conciseness, conventional usage, and composition principles.
  • The Copyeditor's Handbook — Amy Einsohn; Marilyn Schwartz
    Professional copyediting practice, grammar, and editorial process.
  • The Sense of Style — Steven Pinker
    Reader-centered clarity informed by linguistics and cognition.
The raw rule record

Verbatim from 07-core-grammar-rules.json. Also available at /v1/rules/GRM-017.

{
  "id": "GRM-017",
  "name": "Modifier beside its target",
  "domain": "grammar",
  "layer": "phrase",
  "strength": "hard_constraint",
  "human_logic": "IF a modifier can attach to the wrong head, THEN move it beside the intended target or expand the phrase ELSE retain.",
  "when": {
    "all": [
      {
        "path": "modifier",
        "operator": "exists"
      },
      {
        "path": "modifier.attachment_ambiguous",
        "operator": "eq",
        "value": true
      }
    ]
  },
  "then": [
    {
      "action": "move",
      "target": "modifier",
      "destination": "adjacent_to_intended_head"
    },
    {
      "action": "expand",
      "target": "modifier",
      "when": "movement_insufficient",
      "include": "explicit_relation"
    }
  ],
  "else": [
    {
      "action": "retain",
      "target": "current_text",
      "reason": "No triggering condition is present."
    }
  ],
  "unless": [],
  "because": "Attachment ambiguity changes who did what, when, where, or to what degree.",
  "diagnostics": [],
  "examples": {},
  "source_ids": [
    "BK-001",
    "BK-007",
    "BK-008"
  ],
  "laka": {
    "smallest_sufficient_intervention": true,
    "primary_axes": [
      "scope",
      "depth",
      "magnitude",
      "reversibility"
    ]
  }
}

Other grammar rules

  1. GRM-001 Subject–verb number agreement IF a finite clause has an expressed subject AND neither quoted dialect nor an agreement exception applies, THEN align the finite verb with the subject in number ELSE retain. Hard constraint
  2. GRM-002 Compound subject agreement IF two or more singular subject heads are coordinated by AND, THEN use plural agreement ELSE evaluate the coordinator. Hard constraint
  3. GRM-003 Or/nor proximity agreement IF subject alternatives are joined by OR or NOR, THEN agree with the closest subject OR rewrite when the result sounds unstable ELSE retain. Context default
  4. GRM-004 Pronoun–antecedent agreement IF a pronoun refers to an antecedent AND the antecedent is known, THEN align person and number while respecting singular THEY ELSE request the missing referent. Hard constraint
  5. GRM-005 Unambiguous pronoun reference IF a pronoun has two or more plausible antecedents OR none, THEN replace it with the intended noun phrase ELSE retain. Hard constraint
  6. GRM-006 Stable grammatical person IF a passage shifts person without changing speaker, audience, or viewpoint, THEN restore the established person ELSE preserve the motivated shift. Context default
  7. GRM-007 Tense consistency within a time frame IF tense changes but event time and narrative viewpoint do not, THEN restore the established tense ELSE keep the meaningful time shift. Context default
  8. GRM-008 Sequence of tenses IF a dependent clause is temporally related to a governing clause, THEN select tense and aspect that express the intended ordering ELSE do not normalize automatically. Hard constraint