Term used before it is defined
use-before-definitionon by default (info)Japanese / English
A term defined in passing, as in (the "Seller"), that is used before that point
Example
How to fix
Move the definition to the first use, or reword the earlier sentence without the defined term.
Why it matters
A term defined in passing, as in (the "Seller"), and used before that point makes the reader meet a word whose meaning has not been given yet. The earlier use is usually a sentence added later, in front of a definition that stayed where it was.
What it does not flag
Terms defined in a definitions clause ("X" means ...) are not checked, since a definitions clause may come first or last. A heading line (a chapter or section line, or the caption above an article) does not count as a use, nor does a longer word that runs on in kanji past a term ending in kanji, nor an earlier copy of the long name written just before the definition's bracket. The polite Japanese form (以下「X」といいます) is read like the statute form. Only the first early use is pointed at. A word inside the name written right before another term's defining bracket (Services in This Services Agreement (this "Agreement")) is not a use either. Nor are contents and index lines (the items under a contents heading, a table of contents or a list of defined terms and section numbers packed on one line), a caption after a section number (Section 1.1 Closing.), a label of a number and the term ending in a bracketed section reference ((a) Seller (Section 2)), or a longer name that holds the term, such as an earlier copy of the name before the bracket (Board of Directors before our Board of Directors ("Board")), a longer defined term, a capitalised name ending in it (Navistar Financial Corporation). The document naming itself (this Agreement before (this "Agreement")) and a use followed by the long name in brackets are clear to the reader and not pointed at. A use in a summary section (under a heading such as Summary, Syllabus or 裁判要旨) of a term defined outside it, and a numbered line that only names the section below ((2) Interim Land Designation) summarise or name the body, so they are not uses either.
Turning it off or relaxing it
Technical details
- Layer
- L3
- Status
- stable
- Severity
- info
- Languages
- Japanese and English
- Suited to
- business, technical, blog, legal, docs, academic, literature, speech
- Reads from the document
- structure
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 | warning |
|---|---|
| normal | info |
| 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, literature/fiction, literature/essay, literature/poetry, literature/play, speech/address, speech/transcript
Message
"{term}" is used here, before it is defined on line {defined}
Rewrite depth (chaff fix-plan --depth): structure — sections, headings and paragraphs are reorganised
This page is built from the rule's definition file:packages/chaff/rules/use-before-definition.yaml