warning · Section 3: Verbs

Rule 3.7: Use an approved verb to describe an action, not a noun or other part of speech

When an approved verb exists that describes the action you mean, use that verb directly rather than a nominalized construction (e.g. 'give an indication of,' 'before the removal of') or another part of speech. If a word is not approved as a verb in the dictionary, do not use it as a verb — restructure the sentence instead, for example with a 'do a/an <noun> of' construction.

What a checker looks for

Usually a deviation, and context can excuse it.

Flag nominalized action phrases such as 'do/perform/carry out the <noun> of,' 'give an indication of,' 'before the removal of' where a direct approved verb for that action exists (e.g. 'show,' 'remove').
Flag a word used as a verb when it is not listed with a verb part of speech in the dictionary — such actions must instead be expressed with a noun-based construction (e.g. 'do a check of').

What this rule does not cover

A construction like 'do a check of' is compliant STE, not an unwanted nominalization, specifically when the underlying word (e.g. 'check') is not approved as a verb in the dictionary.

How to fix it

If an approved verb exists for the action, replace the nominalized or indirect phrase with that verb directly. If the word is not approved as a verb, keep or convert to a 'do a/an <noun> of' construction instead of using the word as a verb.

Examples

Not STE: The ohmmeter gives an indication of 450 ohms.

STE: The ohmmeter shows 450 ohms.

The direct approved verb 'shows' replaces the nominalized construction 'gives an indication of.'

Not STE: Check the laptop battery.

STE: Do a check of the laptop battery.

'check' is not approved as a verb in the dictionary, so the noun-based construction is used instead.

Related rules

Rule 3.1: Use only the verb forms that are given in the dictionary

Where this fits in AI governance

A rule a checker can test is a rule a model can be held to. The same discipline, on the governance side of this site.

Testing AI systems
Verb-form rules are deterministic tests, which is what makes them a useful regression suite for generated text.
Model drift, performance regression and versioning
A rule-level pass rate is a baseline; a provider update that changes the model changes the pass rate.
Output validation guardrails
A controlled language is a checkable output constraint. This is the control that treats model output as something to be checked rather than trusted.

Source

ASD-STE100 Issue 9, Section 3 - Verbs, page 1-3-9.

This page is commentary and does not reproduce the standard. About this rule pack.

Back to all 53 rules