A list that does not have the number of items announced
announced-count-mismatchon by defaultJapanese / English
A list whose number of items differs from the number announced just before it
Example
How to fix
Check whether an item is missing. Add it, or correct the number in the announcement.
Why it matters
When a sentence says "the following three steps" and the list right below it has two or four, the reader has to check whether an item is missing or the count is wrong. It happens when an item is added or removed and the count is not updated. The number is compared with the items at the top level of the list only when the sentence right before the list announces it, with a word pointing ahead ("following", "below") or a colon at its end, and the number names what the list holds ("three steps", "two reasons"). A line right above the list that holds only a number and a heading word ("Three-line summary") is compared too. A line with a count in brackets after a label and names after the colon, split at commas ("Attendees (6): Tanaka, Suzuki, ..."), is checked the same way: the count against the names listed.
What it does not flag
An estimate (about three, three or more), a rank (the first three), how many to pick or to meet (choose two, any one of the following), the number of a clause or section (7.1, Article 7), a number before a heading or a table, and a number with no list right after it are not compared. Nor is a sentence with two numbers in it. When only a colon announces the list, the number nearest the colon is the count, so a number followed by another one is not compared ("We merged three tasks into 2 pages:"). A list whose every item is a label, a colon and members split at slashes is not reported when the members add up to the count. Names listed on one line are not compared when the split is unclear ("and" or "&" inside a name, an unclosed bracket, a sentence ending midway) or the list is left open ("etc.", "and others").
Turning it off or relaxing it
Technical details
- Layer
- L3
- Status
- stable
- Severity
- warning
- Languages
- Japanese and English
- Suited to
- business, technical, blog, legal, docs, academic, literature, speech
Levels
Set a level for this rule under rules in chaff.yaml. With nothing set, it runs at the level its genre gives it (see By genre below).
| strict | error |
|---|---|
| normal | warning |
| relaxed | info |
This rule has no limit to count to. A level sets how a finding is marked: relaxed keeps the finding and marks it a step lower.
By genre
- Runs by default in
- technical/spec, technical/readme, blog/tech, blog/essay, blog/owned-media, business/proposal, business/report, business/email, business/press-release, business/meeting-notes, legal/contract, legal/statute, legal/judgment, legal/patent, docs/manual, docs/faq, docs/glossary, academic/paper, speech/address, speech/transcript
- Turned off by the genre in
- literature/fiction, literature/essay, literature/poetry, literature/play
Message
"{phrase}" is announced, but the number of items in the list below is {listed}
"{phrase}" is given, but {listed} are listed after it
This page is built from the rule's definition file:packages/chaff/rules/announced-count-mismatch.yaml