Paragraph lengths are too uniform
paragraph-length-varianceon by default (info)Japanese / English
Paragraphs all of about the same length, as if poured into a mould
Example
Flagged
First, install the tool. Pick the version for your computer from the official download page.
Next, open the settings. The gear icon at the top right shows everything that you can change.
Then, invite your team. Enter their addresses on the invite page on the left and press send.
After that, choose the rules. In the middle of the settings page, set the level of each rule you want.
Then, write it down. Note which settings you changed in a place where your team can read it.
Finally, check that it works. Add a sample document and look for the findings on the screen.
What chaff prints
1:1 Paragraph length varies by only 3% (want at least 30%)
Fixed
First, install the tool.
Next, open the settings. The gear icon at the top right shows everything that you can change. There are many options, but at first you only need two: the language and the kind of document. Change the rest when you need to.
Then, invite your team.
After that, choose the rules.
Then, write it down. Note which settings you changed in a place where your team can read it. Add a line on why, too; it will help you in six months.
Finally, check that it works. Add a sample document and look for the findings on the screen.
What chaff prints
no finding
chaff.yaml used for this example
genre: blog/tech
How to fix
Let the short ones be short.
Why it matters
When a person writes, paragraph length follows what matters. Uniform length is the mark of filling a shape.
What it does not flag
Documents with fewer than 6 paragraphs are not checked (min_paragraphs changes it). Business and technical genres do not run this rule.
Turning it off or relaxing it
Silence this one spot (in the document)
<!-- stet: paragraph-length-variance — reason -->
Relax it for the team (the reason is kept as a comment in chaff.yaml)
npx chaffjs relax paragraph-length-variance --why "reason"
Turn it off for the team (chaff.yaml)
rules:
paragraph-length-variance: off
Technical details
- Layer
- L1
- Status
- stable
- Severity
- info
- Languages
- Japanese and English
- Suited to
- 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 | reported when paragraph length varies by less than 40% |
|---|---|
| normal | reported when paragraph length varies by less than 30% |
| relaxed | reported when paragraph length varies by less than 20% |
By genre
- Runs by default in
- blog/tech, blog/essay, blog/owned-media
- Turned off by the genre in
- legal/contract, legal/statute, legal/judgment, legal/patent, docs/manual, docs/faq, docs/glossary, academic/paper, literature/fiction, literature/essay, literature/poetry, literature/play, speech/address, speech/transcript
- Not suited to, and not run in
- technical/spec, technical/readme, business/proposal, business/report, business/email, business/press-release, business/meeting-notes
Message
Paragraph length varies by only {variance}% (want at least {limit}%)
This page is built from the rule's definition file:packages/chaff/rules/paragraph-length-variance.yaml