Computer processes for analyzing and suggesting improvements for text readability

• US 9,953,026 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2016
• Issued: 04/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wordrake Holdings, LLC
• Original Assignee: Wordrake Holdings, LLC
• Inventors: Kinder, Gary W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Godbold, Douglas
• Application Number:
  US15/191,418
• Publication Number:
  US 20160306787A1
• Time in Patent Office: 670 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/237 Lexical tools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30

Abstract

Computer-based processes are disclosed for analyzing and improving document readability. Document readability is improved by using rules and associated logic to automatically detect various types of writing problems and to make and/or suggest edits for eliminating such problems. Many of the rules seek to generate more concise formulations of the analyzed sentences, such as by eliminating unnecessary words, rearranging words and phrases, and making various other types of edits. Proposed edits can be conveyed, e.g., through a word processing platform, by changing the visual appearance of text to indicate how the text would appear with (or with and without) the edit.

Claims

1. Non-transitory computer storage having stored thereon executable code that instructs a computer system to perform a method of analysis and interaction with a user to efficiently improve clarity and brevity of text, the method comprising:

accepting and storing input text;

providing a user interface configured to display the stored input text and accept user input to

sequentially accept or reject proposed edits generated by the method, thereby causing the computer to retain or remove the proposed edits, respectively, within the user interface;

accessing a rules database of rules and other information used by the method during analysis, the database including;

multiple sets of rules, each set configured for application to portions of text that include at least one character string selected from the following list of character strings;

“

it”

, “

that”

, “

of”

, “

in”

, and “

as”

; and

one or more rules configured to address problems related to passive voice;

when initiated by a user through the user interface, analyzing the designated portion of the input text by performing each of the following steps;

identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for text that includes at least one of the following character strings as signs;

“

it”

, “

that”

, “

of”

, “

in”

, and “

as”

;

for at least one of the signs, applying multiple rules associated with that sign to the designated portion of the input text without scanning the input text a second time for the same sign, thereby achieving processing efficiency;

comparing target words and phrases associated with at least one of the signs to a stored list of false positives associated with that sign and if the target word or phrase is present in the list, preventing a proposed edit related to that target word or phrase from being displayed to the user;

proposing edits that remove or modify the target words or phrases associated with the at least one character string by displaying the edits to a user in context with surrounding text such that the user can simultaneously see pre-edit and proposed edit versions of the target word or phrase; and

applying the one or more rules configured to address problems related to passive voice by searching for at least “

to be”

verb and at least one past participle immediately following the verb, and proposing edits that change the voice of the text from passive to active;

providing a user control near proposed edits in the user interface for accepting or rejecting each proposed edit; and

through the user interface, accepting input from the user regarding the sequence and timing for presentation of the proposed edits to the user, alternately conveying to a user the proposed edits resulting from that analysis, and accepting user input to sequentially accept or reject each such proposed edit, thereby causing the computer to sequentially retain or remove the proposed edits, respectively, within the user interface.

2. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that further comprises repeating all these steps for the entire database of relevant rules and requiring sequential user input for each proposed edit in turn.

3. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that further comprises using any of the following character strings that are present in the designated portions of the input text as a trigger to invoke processing of all rules related to that character string:

“

it,”

“

that,”

“

of,”

“

in,” and

“

as”

.

4. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that further comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text that includes at least one of the following character strings:

“

there,”

“

what,” and

“

or”

.

5. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 4, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that further comprises, when initiated by a user, analyzing the designated portion of the input text by identifying target words and phrases using one or more of the following character strings as signs:

“

there,”

“

what,” and

“

or”

.

6. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, wherein the database further includes one or more rules configured to address problems related to over-use of cliché

s, and wherein the method further comprises executing those rules on the designated portions of the input text during analysis by the computer.

7. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, wherein the database further includes one or more rules configured to address problems related to redundancy, and wherein the method further comprises executing those rules on the designated portions of the input text during analysis by the computer.

8. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 7, wherein the rules configured to address problems related to redundancy include rules that suggest edits removing the extraneous initial word in a word pair.

9. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, wherein the database further includes one or more rules configured to address problems related to junk words and phrases, where the junk words or phrases are stored in a pool in the database and the method directs the computer to scan the entire text for each entry in the pool to locate any such junk words and phrases and propose removal or replacement thereof.

10. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 9, wherein the following character strings within the input text result in proposed removal of the character string:

“

currently,”

“

essentially,”

“

actually,”

“

basically,”

“

evidently,”

“

apparently,”

“

clearly,” and

“

totally”

.

11. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, wherein the database further includes one or more rules configured to use at least the character string “

purpose”

as a sign for identifying proposed edits.

12. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for the text string “

in,” and

wherein the following character strings within the input text result in proposed replacement edits as follows;

“

if”

is proposed to replace “

in the event of”

;

“

for”

is proposed to replace “

in the amount of”

;

“

during”

or “

when”

are proposed to replace “

in the course of”

; and

“

to”

is proposed to replace “

in an effort to”

.

13. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for the text string “

purpose of,” and

wherein the following character string within the input text results in a proposed replacement edit as follows;

“

for”

is proposed to replace “

for the purpose of”

.

14. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for the text string “

that,” and

wherein the following character string within the input text results in a proposed replacement edit as follows;

“

because”

is proposed to replace “

on the grounds that”

.

15. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for the text string “

as,” and

wherein the following character strings within the input text result in proposed replacement edits as follows;

“

because of”

is proposed to replace “

as a result of”

; and

“

if”

is proposed to replace “

as long as”

.

16. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for a text string corresponding to a “

to be”

verb, and wherein the method avoids proposed edits by using a pool of time nouns as false positives such that no proposed edits are presented through the user interface when the “

to be”

verb is followed by the text string “

by” and

then followed by any of the following text strings;

“

October,”

“

noon,”

“

tomorrow,”

or “

Friday”

.

17. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 16, wherein the following character strings within the input text result in the following proposed edit:

“

It seems to me that one adjective already modifies the preceding noun.”

is proposed to replace “

It seems to me that the preceding noun is already modified by one adjective”

.

18. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 1, wherein the database further includes one or more rules configured to address problems related to nominalizations, and wherein the following character strings within the input text result in proposed replacement edits as follows:

“

refer”

is proposed to replace “

make a reference”

;

“

prepare”

is proposed to replace “

make preparations”

; and

“

agree”

is proposed to replace “

are in agreement”

.

19. A method for compacting text in an electronic document stored on a computer system, the method comprising:

accessing a database that stores a plurality of rules, each rule comprising at least one sign associated with the presence or absence of a non-compact writing issue, and wherein the database is configured such that rules with a shared sign are grouped together;

detecting the shared sign in a text portion of the document;

in response to detecting the shared sign, applying a first rule that determines whether a false positive that depends on a shared sign is present in the text portion;

in response to detecting the shared sign, applying a second rule that determines whether a non-compact writing issue that depends on the shared sign is present in the text portion;

in response to determining that the writing issue is present in the text portion and the false positive is not present in the text portion, generating a proposed modification that reduces the length of the text portion based on at least the second rule;

provisionally displaying the proposed modification on a user interface of the computer system such that both the proposed modification and the initial contents of the text portion are visible to a user;

providing a binary control configured to allow a user to accept or reject the proposed modification and responding to use of this binary control by immediately changing the user interface to incorporate the proposed modification if it is accepted and to remove the proposed modification if it is rejected; and

in further response to the detection of the shared sign, applying one or more additional rules that determine whether one or more additional non-compact writing issues are present in the text portion.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the proposed modification comprises deleting the word “

by”

while changing passive to active voice.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the proposed modification further comprises deleting a verb closest to the shared sign while removing or transforming a nominalization.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising recording results of user interaction with the binary control for each proposed modification, thereby maintaining a record of the proportion of users that agree with the results of the first rule and the second rule.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising accounting for the identity of users during a feedback process, discounting feedback from users with lesser reputations, and updating the rules database with additional false positives as a result of this feedback.

22. Non-transitory computer storage having stored thereon executable code that instructs a computer system to perform a method of analysis and interaction with a user to efficiently improve clarity and brevity of text, the method comprising:

accepting and storing input text;

providing a user interface configured to display the stored input text and accept user input to sequentially accept or reject proposed edits generated by the method, thereby causing the computer to retain or remove the proposed edits, respectively, within the user interface;

accessing a rules database of rules and other information used by the method during analysis, the database including;

multiple sets of rules, each set configured for application to portions of text that include at least one character string selected from the following list of character strings;

“

it”

, “

that”

, “

of”

, “

in”

, and “

as”

; and

one or more rules configured to address problems related to passive voice;

at least one stored list of false positives associated with at least one of the sets of rules;

when initiated by a user through the user interface, analyzing the designated portion of the input text by performing each of the following steps;

identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for text that includes at least one of the following character strings;

“

it”

, “

that”

, “

of”

, “

in”

, and “

as”

;

for at least one of the character strings, applying multiple rules associated with that character string to the designated portion of the input text;

comparing target words and phrases associated with at least one of the character strings to the stored list of false positives and if the target word or phrase is present in the list, preventing a proposed edit related to that target word or phrase from being displayed to the user;

proposing edits that remove or modify the target words or phrases associated with the at least one character string by displaying the edits to a user in context with surrounding text such that the user can simultaneously see pre-edit and proposed edit versions of the target word or phrase; and

applying the one or more rules configured to address problems related to passive voice by searching for at least one “

to be”

verb and at least one past participle immediately following the verb, and proposing edits that change the voice of the text from passive to active, in response to determining that the proposed edits do not correspond to one of the false positives in the stored list of false positives;

providing a user control in association with the proposed edit in the user interface for accepting or rejecting, in turn, each proposed edit; and

through the user interface, alternately conveying to a user the proposed edits, and accepting user input to sequentially accept or reject each such proposed edit, thereby causing the computer to sequentially retain or remove the proposed edits, respectively, within the user interface.

25. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, wherein analyzing the designated portion of the input text further comprises applying multiple rules associated with that character string to the designated portion of the input text without scanning the input text a second time for the same character string, thereby achieving processing efficiency.

26. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises, through the interface, accepting input from the user regarding the sequence and timing for presentation of the proposed edits to the user.

27. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, the method further comprising recording results of whether users accepted or rejected proposed edits and recording those results in association with rules that resulted in the proposed edits, thereby maintaining feedback useful for identifying further false positives or rules that are not valuable or functioning properly.

28. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for the text string “

in,” and

wherein the following character strings within the input text result in proposed replacement edits as follows;

“

if”

is proposed to replace “

in the event of”

;

“

for”

is proposed to replace “

in the amount of”

;

“

during”

or “

when”

are proposed to replace “

in the course of”

; and

“

to”

is proposed to replace “

in an effort to”

.

29. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for the text string “

purpose of,” and

wherein the following character string within the input text results in a proposed replacement edit as follows;

“

for”

is proposed to replace “

for the purpose of”

.

30. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for the text string “

that,” and

wherein the following character string within the input text results in a proposed replacement edit as follows;

“

because”

is proposed to replace “

on the grounds that”

.

31. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for the text string “

as,” and

wherein the following character strings within the input text result in proposed replacement edits as follows;

“

because of”

is proposed to replace “

as a result of”

; and

“

if”

is proposed to replace “

as long as”

.

32. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, wherein the following character strings within the input text result in proposed removal of the character string:

“

currently,”

“

essentially,”

“

actually,”

“

basically,”

“

evidently,”

“

apparently,”

“

clearly,” and

“

totally”

.

33. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, the executable code stored thereon for directing a computer to perform a method that comprises identifying target words and phrases by scanning the input text for a text string corresponding to a “

to be”

verb, and wherein the method avoids proposed edits by using a pool of time nouns as false positives such that no proposed edits are presented through the user interface when the “

to be”

verb is followed by the text string “

by” and

then followed by any of the following text strings;

“

October,”

“

noon,”

“

tomorrow,”

or “

Friday”

.

34. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, wherein the following character strings within the input text result in the following proposed edit:

“

It seems to me that one adjective already modifies the preceding noun.”

is proposed to replace “

It seems to me that the preceding noun is already modified by one adjective”

.

35. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 22, wherein the database further includes one or more rules configured to address problems related to nominalizations, and wherein the following character strings within the input text result in proposed replacement edits as follows:

“

refer”

is proposed to replace “

make a reference”

;

“

prepare”

is proposed to replace “

make preparations”

; and

“

agree”

is proposed to replace “

are in agreement”

.

36. A method for compacting text in an electronic document stored on a computer system, the method comprising:

accessing a database that stores a plurality of rules, each rule comprising at least one character string associated with the presence or absence of a non-compact writing issue, the database configured to include rules with a shared character string;

detecting a shared character string in a text portion of the document;

in connection with the detected shared character string, applying a first rule that determines whether a false positive that depends on a shared character string is present in the text portion and applying a second rule that determines whether a non-compact writing issue that includes the shared character string is present in the text portion;

in response to determining that the writing issue is present in the text portion and the false positive is not present in the text portion, generating a proposed modification that reduces the length of the text portion based on at least the second rule;

generating, for display to a user, a user interface that provisionally displays the proposed modification on a user interface of the computer system such that both the proposed modification and the initial contents of the text portion are visible to a user;

providing a control configured to allow a user to accept or reject the proposed modification and responding to use of this control by immediately changing the user interface to incorporate the proposed modification if it is accepted and to remove the proposed modification if it is rejected; and

in further response to the detection of the shared character string, applying one or more additional rules that determine whether one or more additional non-compact writing issues are present in the text portion.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the proposed modification comprises deleting the character string “

by”

while changing passive to active voice.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the proposed modification further comprises deleting a verb closest to the shared character string while removing or transforming a nominalization.

39. Non-transitory computer storage having stored thereon executable code that instructs a computer system to perform a method of analysis and interaction with a user, the method comprising:

storing and displaying a document having English-language text provided by a user for analysis, the text comprising multiple character strings;

accessing a database that stores a plurality of rules associated with the presence of a passive voice writing issue in text, the plurality of rules using at least one sign to trigger analysis, the at least one sign comprising a character string having a “

to be”

verb;

detecting the sign in the text and in response, performing a passive voice analysis comprising;

a false positive avoidance rule that searches in the text that follows the sign for a time noun in a list that includes at least seven of the following terms;

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, date, minute, moment, afternoon, morning, night, nighttime, tomorrow, next week, day, daytime, hour, second, epoch, cycle, season, fortnight, year, era, instant, quarter, age, period, yesterday, tomorrow, week, year, decade, century, millennium, and eon ; and

an active voice edit rule that transforms a passive voice sentence in the text into an active voice sentence by changing a verb and inserting a character string representing the entity that performs the action described in the verb;

applying the first rule in response to detection of occurrences of the sign, thereby avoiding false positives and incorrect active voice edits that use time nouns as actors;

in response to detecting the sign and determining that the passive voice writing issue is present in the text portion, and if the first rule has determined that no false positive time noun is present in relevant relation to the sign, proceeding with a proposed modification comprising the active voice edit by provisionally displaying the proposed modification comprising the active voice edit on a user interface of the computer system such that both the proposed modification and the initial contents of the text portion are visible to a user; and

providing a binary control configured to allow a user to accept or reject the proposed modification and responding to use of this binary control by immediately changing the user interface to incorporate the proposed modification if it is accepted and to remove the proposed modification if it is rejected.

40. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 39, wherein:

the passive voice analysis further comprises a third rule for avoiding false positives, the third rule for searching in the text that follows the sign for a transport noun;

the method further comprises applying the third rule each time the sign is detected as well as the first rule, thereby avoiding false positives and incorrect active voice edits that use time nouns or transport nouns as actors; and

the method further comprises proceeding with a proposed modification comprising the active voice edit if the third rule has also determined that no false positive transport noun is present in relevant relation to the sign, thereby avoiding improper provisional display of the proposed modification comprising the active voice edit on a user interface of the computer system.

41. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 40, wherein searching in the text that follows the sign for a transport noun includes searching for any of the character strings in the following list:

“

car,”

“

automobile,”

“

truck,”

“

van,”

“

motorcycle,”

“

plane,”

“

jet,”

“

airplane,”

“

boat,”

“

ship,”

“

scooter,”

“

wagon,”

“

covered wagon,”

“

train,”

“

bus,”

“

cart,”

“

carriage,”

“

sled,”

“

sleigh,”

“

wheelbarrow,”

“

ambulance,”

“

ski,”

“

skate,”

“

roller-skate,”

“

snowshoe,”

“

bike,”

“

bicycle,”

“

coach,”

“

chariot,”

“

cab,”

“

Hansom,”

“

stage coach,”

“

motor home,”

“

subway,”

“

trolley,”

“

horse,”

“

pony,”

or “

colt”

.

42. A system to improve authored text by mitigating problems related to passive voice, the system comprising:

a database of rules comprising at least one rule having;

detection logic that detects whether a particular writing problem exists in authored text, the detection logic comprising a sign that indicates the possible occurrence or absence of the writing problem relating to passive voice, the sign comprising a past participle followed by the word “

by”

;

false positive logic for avoiding incorrect proposed edits, the false positive logic configured to avoid edits where the word “

by”

is followed by one or more of the following;

a time noun, and a transport noun; and

correction logic for correcting the problem, the correction logic capable of identifying a proposed edit converting passive to active voice;

a computer processor configured to apply the rules to the authored text; and

a user interface configured to;

display the authored text to a user;

highlight the potential passive voice writing problem for the user by positioning a portion of the related text within a viewing window such that it is visible to the user; and

when allowed by the false positive logic;

suggest the proposed edit to the user, according to the rules, by provisionally displaying the proposed edit such that both the proposed edit and an unedited version of the same portion of the authored text are visible to a user simultaneously; and

provide a binary control configured to allow a user to accept or reject the proposed edit and responding to use of this binary control by immediately changing the user interface to incorporate and display the proposed edit if it is accepted and to remove the proposed modification if it is rejected.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the false positive logic is configured to avoid edits where the word “

by”

is followed by a time noun comprising one of the character strings in the following list;

“

Monday,”

“

Tuesday,”

“

Wednesday,”

“

Thursday,”

“

Friday,”

“

Saturday,”

“

Sunday,”

“

January,”

“

February,”

“

March,”

“

April,”

“

May,”

“

June,”

“

July,”

“

August,”

“

September,”

“

October,”

“

November,”

“

December,”

“

date,”

“

minute,”

“

moment,”

“

afternoon,”

“

morning,”

“

night,”

“

nighttime,”

“

tomorrow,”

“

next”

“

week,”

“

day,”

“

daytime,”

“

hour,”

“

second,”

“

epoch,”

“

cycle,”

“

season,”

“

fortnight,”

“

year,”

“

era,”

“

instant,”

“

quarter,”

“

age,”

“

period,”

“

yesterday,”

“

tomorrow,”

“

week,”

“

year,”

“

decade,”

“

century,”

“

millennium,” and

“

eon”

.