Style Analyzer

Style Analyzer — The Prose X-Ray

Characterize the style DNA of a prose text through both quantitative measurement and qualitative assessment. This skill answers: What does this prose sound like, and what specific features create that sound?

How to Run

Input

The user provides:

1. Text — the prose to analyze (inline, file path, or clipboard)
2. Purpose (optional):
   • characterize — describe the style (default)
   • compare — compare two texts
   • diagnose — find style inconsistencies within a single text
   • match — identify what features to reproduce when writing in a similar style

Steps

Quantitative Pass (measurable features)

1. Sentence length distribution

   • Average sentence length (words)
   • Standard deviation (high = varied rhythm; low = monotonous)
   • Min/max range
   • Percentage of short (< 10 words), medium (10-25), and long (25+)

2. Opener variety

   • First word of each sentence, classified by part of speech
   • Percentage starting with subject-pronoun (I, He, She, The, It)
   • Diversity score (unique openers / total sentences)

3. Vocabulary metrics

   • Type-Token Ratio (unique words / total words) — higher = richer vocabulary
   • Percentage of Anglo-Saxon vs. Latinate words (sample-based estimate)
   • Average word length (syllables)

4. Syntactic profile

   • Percentage of simple, compound, complex, compound-complex sentences
   • Dominant branching direction (right/left/mid)
   • Fragment usage frequency

5. Readability baseline

   • Flesch-Kincaid grade level (diagnostic only — not a quality measure)
   • Flesch Reading Ease score

Qualitative Pass (requires craft judgment)

1. Voice/style/tone classification

   • Voice register: minimalist / conversational / literary / academic / lyric
   • Tone: earnest / ironic / detached / intimate / urgent
   • Narrative distance (Gardner's 1-5 scale, if applicable)

2. Signature features

   • What makes this prose sound like itself? Identify 3-5 distinctive features.
   • Examples: "Heavy use of fragments for emphasis," "Latinate vocabulary in a conversational register," "Anaphora as primary rhythmic device"

3. Consistency assessment

   • Does the style hold across the sample? Flag register shifts, voice breaks, or inconsistent diction.

Output

A Style Report with:

• Quantitative metrics table
• Qualitative assessment (2-3 paragraphs)
• Signature features list
• For compare mode: side-by-side metrics and a narrative comparison
• For diagnose mode: flagged inconsistencies with locations
• For match mode: a checklist of features to reproduce

Interpretation Guidelines

Sentence length: Average 15-20 words = standard readable prose. Below 12 = terse/minimalist. Above 25 = complex/literary. Standard deviation matters as much as average — low SD with any average = flat rhythm.

Type-Token Ratio: 0.4-0.5 = normal range for prose. Above 0.6 = unusually rich vocabulary. Below 0.35 = repetitive. Note: TTR is length-sensitive — compare only texts of similar length.

Readability scores: Grade 6-8 = accessible general audience. Grade 10-12 = educated general audience. Grade 14+ = specialist/academic. Remember: these measure ease of decoding, not quality. Literary prose intentionally exceeds accessible grade levels.

Important caveat: Quantitative metrics are diagnostic tools, not quality measures. A high TTR doesn't mean better prose; a low Flesch-Kincaid score doesn't mean bad prose. The numbers help describe what the prose is doing. Whether it works is a qualitative judgment.

Scope Boundaries

This skill handles: Analyzing and characterizing prose style — measurement, description, comparison, and diagnosis.

This skill does NOT:

• Edit prose (that's prose-editor)
• Judge quality (it describes features; the user judges quality)
• Analyze content, argument, or narrative structure (only style)