prose-check

A generated text is recognised by its shape before its content. The markers are few, concrete and counted with a command. More examples and the reason behind each rule: <this-skill-directory>/references/why.md.

When: before delivering a text to an outsider; when writing documentation, a presentation, a proposal or a long email; when someone says a text "suena a IA".

It works on Spanish and English text. The examples below come in both languages because they are the data it looks for.

The seven markers

The first three are enough to recognise a generated text.

1. Negative parallelism. «No es X, es Y», «no se trata de X, sino de Y»; "it's not X, it's Y", "not just X, but Y". → Drop the negation and keep what you assert: «Un plan sirve para que alguien lo pare a tiempo».
2. Rule of three. Three adjectives or phrases where the content called for one or two («claro, sencillo y directo»; "fast, simple and reliable"). → If the third adds nothing, it is surplus.
3. Epigram as headline. «Lo que toda pieza tiene que cumplir» instead of «Requisitos»; "What makes a good test" instead of "Tests". → The standard term of the trade.
4. Excess em dashes, where a comma, a parenthesis or a full stop belonged. → One or two per document.
5. Aphoristic colons to finish with a maxim («El resultado es claro: no funciona»; "The answer is simple: measure it"). → Full stop, or a single assertion.
6. Recurring vocabulary. Spanish: «clave», «fundamental», «crucial», «robusto», «sólido», «potente», «profundizar», «panorama», «cabe destacar», «garantizar», «optimizar», «impulsar». English: "delve", "crucial", "pivotal", "robust", "seamless", "leverage", "landscape", "foster", "holistic", "unlock", "harness", "streamline", "it's worth noting". → The concrete verb or noun: «permite mejorar la legibilidad» → «se lee mejor»; "leverages caching to optimize" → "caches".
7. Grandiloquence: linking something to a bigger theme or closing with a reflection that has no data («Esto es lo que separa un dato de una afirmación»; "and that makes all the difference"). → Delete it.

How to review

crux prose check <file…>                 # counts
crux prose check --text "…"              # one string
crux prose detail <file…>                # each case with its line
crux prose check --lang es <file>        # force the language; detected otherwise

The command counts and locates; deciding whether each case is surplus is up to you. Markers 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 score; the em dash and the colons are reported apart, because a pattern cannot tell a punchline from an explanation. It exits 1 when the text reads as generated.

Indicative threshold for about 2,000 words: zero negative parallelisms, fewer than three rules of three, no epigrammatic headline.

What it leaves out on purpose

• Quotes, «quoted text», “quoted text” and code: a text that teaches what to avoid has it written out.
• «clave» as a noun (una clave SSH); it only counts as an adjective.
• «lo que hace falta», which contains «lo que hace».
• Colons that open an enumeration.

What it does not fix

Register: a text can pass all seven and be useless because it uses jargon its reader does not know. Before reviewing the form, ask yourself who reads it. And do not take it to the extreme: a well-placed dash or an enumeration of three real things is good writing.