Expected and Provided Terms#
Purpose
This convention defines Expected and Provided Terms. It is a method for evaluating a text by what it actually explains: the text is analyzed through its terms, each of which is either an expected term or a provided term. All other definitions build on this distinction.
Definitions#
- Argument (conv. 274)#
~ is an elaboration whose statements are connected through reasoning to support its claim.
- Author’s privilege (conv. 274)#
~ is a principle of trusting the author in their judgement about the terms they define. ~ does not apply to expected terms.
See also
- Balancing (conv. 274)#
~ is organizing text in such a way that those parts that are recognized to be on the same level (structurally or semantically) must carry a comparable degree of detail.
- Broader substitute (conv. 274)#
~ is a broader term used where its narrower term already exists in the text: a term more general in meaning replaces a more specific term.
- Broader term (conv. 274)#
~ is a term whose meaning fully includes the meaning of another term.
- Claim (conv. 274)#
~ is a statement made of expected terms that the author chooses to explain.
- Dangling reference (conv. 274)#
~ is a reference to something the text has never introduced.
- Declared list (conv. 274)#
~ is a list introduced by an expected term that states the list is complete. By this convention, ~ defines the term it follows based on author’s privilege.
- Defining category (conv. 274)#
~ is the more general term into which a definition places the term it defines.
- Definition (conv. 274)#
~ relates a term to other terms so that the reader can tell what the term is. In a text, ~ takes one of four forms:
a defining category with a distinguishing feature
an elaboration, which defines a claim
a definition by reference
a declared list
A partial definition is a weak form that may be used in contexts where a general idea of what the term represents would suffice for the purpose of the text.
Important
An illustration and an unqualified list are not definitions.
- Definition by reference (conv. 274)#
~ is a definition that sends the reader to a definition elsewhere, either explicitly, pointing to a specific section, or implicitly, by using a broader reference which can be resolved unambiguously. ~ is valid only if its target is within the reader’s reach, is specific, and is a definition whose terms the reader already has at the point of the reference.
- Derived term (conv. 274)#
~ is an expected term that enters the verified term catalog as a part of another term without being introduced by itself.
- Distinguishing feature (conv. 274)#
~ is the part of a definition that separates the term being defined from the other terms of its defining category within the text. According to the author’s privilege, ~ is sufficient if the term cannot be confused with another term in the text.
- Elaboration (conv. 274)#
~ is a set of connected statements that support a claim.
- Enumeration of features (conv. 274)#
~ is an elaboration that supports its claim by listing features of what the claim is about. The strength of the support depends on what the list contains.
Important
~ is a list. Without an expected term introducing it, ~ is also an unqualified list.
- Expected term (conv. 274)#
~ is a term the text uses without explanation because the reader is expected to know it.
- Hedge (conv. 274)#
~ is a word or phrase that softens the commitment of a statement or a relation, such as usually, should, primarily, or for as in “model for cybersecurity”.
Important
A word such as “usually” that introduces the features of a term marks a partial definition, whether or not it is also a ~.
- Illustration (conv. 274)#
~ is a list introduced by an expected term to present examples of a term. ~ does not define the term.
- Incidental term (conv. 274)#
~ is a provided term the text could do without: removing it loses nothing, however often it is used.
- Inflated category (conv. 274)#
~ is an oversized defining category, such as “paradigm” for a model.
See also
- Insider term (conv. 274)#
~ is a pseudo-term whose definition is settled by the shared context of the author’s group.
- Misused expected term (conv. 274)#
~ is an expected term used in a meaning that contradicts the meaning the reader already knows, such as “model” used for “approach”.
Being an expected term, ~ is not within author’s privilege.
- Narrower term (conv. 274)#
~ is a term whose meaning is fully included in the meaning of its broader term.
- Partial definition (conv. 274)#
~ is a definition that states the common or essential features of a term and includes a hedge that effectively reduces the number of situations where this definition applies. ~ is weaker than the other forms of definition, but gives the reader enough to understand what the term is about according to the author’s privilege.
- Promised and alien reference (conv. 274)#
~ is a definition by reference whose target is a definition built on terms the reader does not have at the point of the reference.
- Promised and vague reference (conv. 274)#
~ is a definition by reference whose target is not a definition in any of its forms, or does not exist.
- Provided term (conv. 274)#
~ is a term the author defines in the text via the recognized definition forms.
Note
A claim is a ~.
- Pseudo-term (conv. 274)#
~ is a word, phrase, or statement used as a term while its definition is neither provided by the author nor known to the reader.
- Redundant term (conv. 274)#
~ is a term introduced but not used as introduced, such as an abbreviation that does not replace the full form in the rest of the text.
- Reference (conv. 274)#
~ is a word or phrase that points to a term or a definition elsewhere in the text without fully qualifying it.
See also
- Relation (conv. 274)#
~ is a connection between two terms, or between a term and a statement, named by an expected term.
Important
A ~ serves the verified term catalog: analyzing ~s reveals terms that are missing or misused. The name of a ~ can itself be a hedge or a misused expected term.
- Statement (conv. 274)#
~ is a fragment of text, a sentence or clause, considered as the smallest context when retrieving unverified terms for the unabridged term register.
- Term (conv. 274)#
~ is a word, phrase, or statement associated with a definition provided by the author or known to the reader.
Reasoning
~s are the best means available for explaining something. Without them, an explanation becomes casual, and different readers take away different ideas. This convention uses ~ more broadly than a dictionary does: it requires no branch of study and no concept, and it is not limited to nouns.
- Term association (conv. 274)#
~ is the label a term receives in the verified term catalog: expected term or provided term.
- Term variant (conv. 274)#
~ is a different wording used for an existing term that shares its defining category.
~ is acceptable if it is introduced and then used consistently.
- Text (conv. 274)#
~ is information structured by connecting terms for the purpose of encoding knowledge.
See also
- Unabridged term register (conv. 274)#
~ is the record of everything retrieved from a text as a possible term: unverified terms, terms, and pseudo-terms.
- Unqualified list (conv. 274)#
~ is a sequence that includes expected terms, provided terms, or both, that has no expected term introducing it. The sequence may mix expected and provided terms as long as its provided terms are not insider terms.
Important
Regardless of author’s privilege, a term that appears in more than one list requires every such list to be qualified.
- Unverified term (conv. 274)#
~ is a word, phrase, or statement found in text before it is confirmed to be an expected term, a provided term, or a pseudo-term.
- Verified term catalog (conv. 274)#
~ is the record of the terms that have passed verification, each with its term association.
+ References#
Proposition |
Version |
|---|---|
v0.1 |
+ Page Info#
Version |
0.1 |
Revision |
2026-10-02 |
Written.by |
Borys Belinsky (borys.belinsky@protonmail.com) |
Assisted.by |
Anthropic Claude, Opus 5.5 |