Add patterns 30-31, expand rules 9 and 14 (v2.6.0)

[shoal-rat]

What this adds

Four improvements derived from real editing work on academic prose:

Expanded Rule 9 — "rather than" overuse

The existing rule covered "Not only…but" and tailing negations. Added "rather than" as a third form of the same pattern — AI stages a contrast by dismissing an alternative (Y) that nobody was claiming. Added a test: ask whether the discarded alternative is actually on the table. If not, just say X.

Expanded Rule 14 — paired em dash bracketing

The existing rule covered general em dash overuse. Added the specific case of paired bracketing (X — elaboration — continues), which looks inserted rather than written. Includes four fix strategies keyed to the type of insertion (list, appositive, parenthetical, subject expansion) and an exception for short, earned, non-repeated brackets.

New Rule 30 — Conditional frame stacking ("If X…" clusters)

AI hedges its own conclusions with multiple "if the argument holds… if the reading is right…" clauses in the same passage. One conditional at a genuine branching point is fine. A cluster of them in a conclusion signals the writer isn't standing behind their own work. Fix: state what the argument found; reserve "if" for real analytical branches.

New Rule 31 — Miscalibrated epistemic confidence

A two-sided rule. AI swings between over-asserting (loading claims with "decisively," "fundamentally," "completely") and over-hedging ("appears to have arguably," "may have somewhat"). Both are tells. The fix is never to replace one extreme with the other — it is to narrow the claim to what the evidence actually supports. Includes a "critical rule": don't fix over-assertion by adding hedges.

Version

2.5.1 → 2.6.0

Pattern count

29 → 31