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Floating Body Parts
Flags sentences where body parts perform actions independently of their owners.
What It Does
Detects the pattern: possessive pronoun + anatomy noun + active verb ("Her eyes flew across the room"). Body parts can't act independently — characters perform actions through their body parts.
Why It Matters
This pattern (also called "disembodied anatomy") is one of the most common prose tics, especially in genre fiction. It creates unintentional comedy and distances the reader from the character. "She looked across the room" is both shorter and more accurate than "Her eyes traveled across the room."
What Gets Flagged
| Severity | Example | Why | Suggested Revision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hint | "Her eyes flew across the room." | Eyes can't fly | "She looked across the room." |
| Hint | "His stomach dropped." | Stomachs don't drop | "He felt sick with dread." |
Configuration
No configuration options. Includes ~30 anatomy nouns and ~40 active verbs.
Technical Details
- Source:
prose-craft - Scope: Sentence-level
- Method: PRP$ + anatomy noun + active verb pattern matching within a 2-token window