New rules: Cliches

<rule id="ID" name="Cliche: feelgood factor">    
 <pattern>
  <token>feelgood</token>
  <token>factor</token>
 </pattern>
 <message>Avoid using the cliche "feelgood factor". <suggestion>sense of emotion</suggestion> is better.</message>
 <example correction=''>People buy products based on the <marker>feelgood factor</marker>.</example>
 <example>People buy products based on how it makes them feel.</example>
</rule>

I’m not a native English speaker so I have problem judging individual rules. But my impression is that some of these rules should maybe not be activated by default. LT is a system to be used by everyone, not just for formal texts. That implies that it needs to cope with colloquial, idiomatic, and figurative language. Maybe many of these rules belong into a “technical text” category where they can be activated by users who write formal texts, like technical documentation.

<rule id="ID" name="Cliche: low-hanging fruit">    
 <pattern>
  <token>low-hanging</token>
  <token>fruit</token>
 </pattern>
 <message>Avoid using the cliche "low-hanging fruit". Use <suggestion>easiest</suggestion> instead.</message>
 <example correction=''>He worked on the <marker>low-hanging fruit</marker> of the day.</example>
 <example>He worked on the easiest task of the day.</example>
</rule>

That sounds completely reasonable. Please ensure that they are available for those using wikicheck as well.

<rule id="ID" name="Cliche: to be honest">    
 <pattern case_sensitive='yes'>
  <token>To</token>
  <token>be</token>
  <token>honest</token>
 </pattern>
 <message>Avoid the cliche "to be honest". Use <suggestion>frankly</suggestion> instead.</message>
 <example correction=''><marker>To be honest</marker> this is an awful cliche.</example>
 <example>Frankly this is an awful cliche.</example>
</rule>

Please make some small changes to the rules, as the rule editor cannot make them automatically:

  1. id=“ID” should be replaced with a unique id, e.g. for a rule “Cliche: to be honest”, it could be “TO_BE_HONEST”

  2. The correction="" attribute needs to be filled manually, namely with the correction (as in the … element). If there’s no suggestion, the attribute can stay as correction=""

  3. The example without a ‘correction’ attribute can and should be removed if it’s the same sentence that one gets when applying the correction to the wrong example sentence.

Also, I suggest you collect rules and then post them in one go. Posting rules one by one generates an email per rule for everybody subscribed to the forum. Finally, you write the yourself and don’t take them from the book, don’t you?

  1. So tell me if I understand this.
    Incorrect:
    Is this correct? or is this

  2. OK

  3. I think I just forgot to add all the parameters. I’ll double check it.

  4. I can do that. Correct. I’m writing the messages myself. My reference material for these entries is “Cliches: Avoid them like the plague!”

This is correct:

[quote=“TryHardDieHard”]
The situation he reached[/quote]
The ‘he’ was probably meant to be ‘has’.