warning · Section 8: Punctuation and word count
Rule 8.3: Use parentheses only for these seven approved purposes
Use parentheses only to: reference an illustration or other text; give a letter or number identifying an item on an illustration or in text; identify a work-step number in a procedure; show an abbreviation; give the singular and plural forms of a noun together; explain a word or part of a sentence; or present an alternative.
What a checker looks for
Usually a deviation, and context can excuse it.
- Flag parenthetical content that does not fit one of the seven approved uses: illustration/text reference, item index letter/number, procedure step number, abbreviation, singular/plural form, brief explanatory aside, or alternative.
- Flag parentheses used to insert a long, tangential, or unrelated remark rather than one of the short approved uses.
What this rule does not cover
- An index number or letter immediately after a noun, such as 'the valve (10, Figure 1)' or 'the hoses (2) and (12)', is a compliant identifier use and should not be flagged as extraneous information.
How to fix it
If the parenthetical content matches one of the seven approved uses, keep it in parentheses in the standard format shown in the examples. If it does not fit any of the seven uses, move the information into the main sentence or into a separate sentence instead of parentheses.
Constraints on the fix
- Preserve index numbers and letters exactly as given; do not drop them when rewriting.
- Do not compress unrelated information into a parenthetical explanation just to shorten the sentence.
Examples
Not STE: A Liquid Crystal Display flat-panel display uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals.
STE: A Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is a flat-panel display that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals.
Not STE: Disconnect the hoses 2 and 12 from the suction ejector 8.
STE: Disconnect the hoses (2) and (12) from the suction ejector (8).
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
Word counting is specified precisely so that a length limit is a test rather than an opinion. - AI system monitoring and logging
Counted deviations per document, over time, are the monitoring metric this section makes possible. - 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 8 - Punctuation and word count, page 1-8-3.
This page is commentary and does not reproduce the standard. About this rule pack.