Glossaries
Do I need glossaries?
Yes, if you need to fine-tune your tone of voice guide. Glossaries are used to:
1) forbid certain words.
2) require certain words.
3) ensure correct spelling people’s and brand names.
How to create a custom glossary?
1) In “My library”, click on + to create a new custom glossary.
2) Give it a telling name that explains its aim.
3) Add words one by one by pressing enter.
4) Use special functions to check for specific word forms or make an exception.
5) When creating or editing your custom tone of voice, choose a rule: “Forbid words from a custom glossary” or “Require words from a custom glossary” or “Check exact spelling”, and then pick the applicable glossary from the drop-down menu.
6) If you have multiple glossaries that you wish to use simultaneously, you will need to add the rule several times — once for each glossary.
For example, your tone of voice might feature three rules: “Forbid words from a custom glossary (“Words our competitors use”)”, “Forbid words from a custom glossary (“Words inconsistent with our image”)” and “Forbid words from a custom glossary (“Words that have performed poorly in ads before”)”.
The same applies to “Require words from a custom glossary” and “Check exact spelling” rules — one rule for each glossary. This is the reason why these rules will not be removed from the list in the tone of voice editing mode, unlike other rules which can only be used once.
What are the special functions in glossaries?
Special functions in glossaries allow you to create a broader or narrower coverage, as well as making exceptions:
Expand contractions
Select this option if you wish to check texts for all forms of words in your glossary for the broadest coverage. Leave this field empty if you want to check only for a specific form of a word or an exact phrase, resulting in a narrower interpretation.
For instance, if you add the word 'don’t' to your dictionary and choose the 'Expand contractions' feature, Textok will highlight both 'don’t' and 'do not' as errors.
Use lemmas
Select this option if you wish to check texts for all forms of words in your glossary for the broadest coverage. Leave this field empty if you intend to check only for a specific form of a word or an exact phrase, resulting in a narrower interpretation.
For instance, if you add the word "boost" to your dictionary and enable the "Use lemmas" feature, Textok will identify not only "boost" but also all other forms of the same word, such as "booster" and "boosted," as mistakes.
Find only nouns or verbs
Place the tilde (~) symbol after a word and select a tag from the list to check only for a noun, verb, or another form of the word.
Example: Love~NN will flag only cases where “love” is used as a noun, not as a verb.
List of part-of-speech tags is available here.
Create an exception
Place the caret (^) symbol before a word to create an exception, meaning that this exact form of the word will not be flagged.
Example: you want to forbid word “best”, but not “^Best”, which is the last name of your CEO.
What is “Expand contractions” used for?
Expanding contractions allow you to create a broader coverage of your glossary of forbidden or required words.
Select this option if you wish to check texts for all forms of words in your glossary for the broadest coverage. Leave this field empty if you want to check only for a specific form of a word or an exact phrase, resulting in a narrower interpretation.
Example: if you include word “don’t” in your dictionary and check “Expand contractions”, Textok will flag both “don’t” and “do not” as a mistake.
What is “Lemmas” used for?
Use lemmas to create a broader coverage of your glossary of forbidden or required words.
Select this option if you wish to check texts for all forms of words in your glossary for the broadest coverage. Leave this field empty if you intend to check only for a specific form of a word or an exact phrase, resulting in a narrower interpretation.
Example: if you include word “boost” in your dictionary and check “Use lemmas”, Textok will flag not only “boost”, but all other forms of this word as well, such as “booster” and “boosted” etc as a mistake.
What is “Tilde” used for?
Tilde is a character that is used to narrow down the coverage of your glossary of forbidden or required words.
Place tilde (~) symbol after a word and choose a tag from the list to check only for noun or verb or other form of the word.
Example: Love~NN will flag only cases where “love” is used as a noun, not as a verb.
List of part-of-speech tags used in Textok is available here.
What is “Caret” used for?
Caret is used to create an exception for your glossary of forbidden or required words.
Place caret (^) symbol before a word to create an exception. This exact form of the word will not be flagged.
Example: you want to forbid word “best”, but not “^Best”, which is the last name of your CEO.
How do I connect glossary to a tone of voice?
When you have finished creating a custom glossary, go to “My Library”, choose a tone of voice you want to use this glossary with, pick from the rules list “Forbid words from a custom glossary” or “Require words from a custom glossary” or “Check exact spelling”, and then select the applicable glossary from the drop-down menu.
If you have multiple glossaries that you wish to use simultaneously, you will need to add the rule several times — once for each glossary.
For example, your tone of voice might feature three rules: “Forbid words from a custom glossary (“Words our competitors use”)”, “Forbid words from a custom glossary (“Words inconsistent with our image”)” and “Forbid words from a custom glossary (“Words that have performed poorly in ads before”)”.
The same applies to “Require words from a custom glossary” and Check exact spelling” rules — one rule for each glossary.
This is the reason why these rules will not be removed from the list in the tone of voice editing mode, unlike other rules which can only be used once.
How do I edit a glossary?
You can add new words, delete them, or edit setting of each glossary at any time.
Go to “My Library”, choose a glossary you want to edit, do the necessary changes, and save them. Your custom tones of voice that use the edited glossary will automatically employ the latest version.
Use the “Copy” function if you wish to create a glossary that is similar to one of your existing glossaries but different in some respect (duplicate, then edit and save).
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