--- title: "Read agent paragraphs under misleading headings" slug: read-agent-paragraphs-under-misleading-headings excerpt: "Read a paragraph apart from its heading, put its subject into your own words, then consider how the heading steered your reading." quickAnswer: "Set the heading mentally out of view and read the paragraph by itself. Say what the paragraph discusses in your own words, staying close to its sentences. Bring the heading back into your reading and compare the subject it suggests with the subject you just described. Consider a heading that would fit the paragraph as a private reading aid. Leave the agent's text untouched." keyTakeaways: - A heading can suggest a subject that its paragraph does not discuss. - Reading the paragraph alone gives its sentences room to establish their subject. - A paraphrase can reveal what you brought from the heading into the paragraph. - An imagined heading belongs in your reading, while the received text stays intact. publishedDate: 2026-10-25 dateModified: 2026-10-25 author: Bobby Huang cluster: A role: post status: published faq: - q: "Should I ignore the heading entirely?" a: "Set it mentally out of view for the first reading, then bring it back. Comparing both readings reveals what the heading adds to your expectation." - q: "Does a misleading heading make the paragraph unclear?" a: "The paragraph may discuss one subject quite plainly. The difficulty can lie in expecting it to discuss the subject suggested above it." - q: "Where does my imagined heading belong?" a: "Keep it as a private aid to reading this paragraph. Leave the wording you received intact rather than putting your imagined heading into the agent's text." related: - what-is-a-md-file --- A heading says color. The paragraph beneath it describes sounds. You reach its end still looking for a description of color, although every sentence has been about what can be heard. The heading has supplied an expectation that the paragraph never takes up. Here, fictional Jane Doe reads an invented paragraph from a separate AI agent. The heading and passage are made up. Her attention stays on the written passage, with its imagined scene left alone. For the extension itself, see [an introduction to .md](what-is-a-md-file.md). ## Give the paragraph a reading of its own Jane Doe encounters this invented heading and its paragraph: > **The courtyard's color** > > A fountain splashes beside the courtyard wall. Beyond the arch, footsteps echo across the stones. Near the gate, leaves rustle whenever the breeze passes through. Set the heading mentally out of view. Read from the fountain to the footsteps to the leaves. Each sentence describes a sound in the courtyard. Nothing in those sentences describes the color of the wall, stones or leaves. Stay with those sentences long enough to say what they discuss. The places mentioned give the sounds a setting. They do not turn the paragraph into a description of how the courtyard looks. Reading without the heading is temporary. You are giving the paragraph's own wording a chance to establish its subject before considering the expectation above it. ## Paraphrase the subject without borrowing from above Jane Doe's paraphrase could be, "The paragraph describes sounds heard around a courtyard." That sentence accounts for the splashing, echoing and rustling. Color has no part in that account. Compare a different paraphrase: "The courtyard has colorful surroundings and several sounds." Where did colorful come from? The heading suggested it; the paragraph supplied no description to carry it into that retelling. A paraphrase is your account of what the sentences discuss. Keep it narrow enough that you can point to the words behind it. "A courtyard" names the setting but leaves out what the paragraph says about that setting. "Sounds around a courtyard" retains both. These passages use quoted prose. For a different form of enclosure, consult [text enclosed in code blocks](markdown-code-blocks.md). Here, stay with what the sentences describe. ## Bring the heading back and compare the subjects Now let "The courtyard's color" back into view. It suggests a description of appearance. Your paragraph-only reading found a description of sound. Hold that difference in mind while reading the paragraph beneath the heading again. The heading may have made "wall," "stones" and "leaves" feel like details about appearance. Yet the sentences say what is splashing, echoing and rustling around those places. The subject you expected and the subject expressed by the paragraph remain different. This comparison does not tell you why the agent used that heading. The wording on the page leaves that intention open. Describing this mismatch leaves its origin undecided. Nor does the mismatch require finding several separate subjects within the paragraph. The fountain, footsteps and leaves all contribute to its description of sound. Keep that single subject in view as you compare it with the heading's suggestion. ## Imagine a fitting heading without changing the text In her head, Jane Doe considers "Sounds around the courtyard." Under that imagined heading, the splashing, echoing and rustling belong to the subject she expects. It gives her a way to notice what the received heading led her away from. Keep this imagined wording private. The agent's heading remains where it was, with the paragraph beneath it unchanged. You are considering how a different expectation would affect your reading, rather than making an edit to the passage. The imagined heading also needs to stay faithful to the paragraph. "A quiet courtyard" would bring another expectation that the described sounds do not establish. A fitting phrase should account for what the paragraph actually discusses without adding a judgment about it. This mental comparison concerns the paragraph's subject. Naming a file is a separate choice, discussed in [names for Markdown files](markdown-file-naming.md); keep the file's existing name during this reading. ## Return to the received words with the mismatch in mind Read the original heading and paragraph together once more. Jane Doe holds both subjects in view: the heading suggests color, while the paragraph describes sound. Her reading retains the mismatch instead of supplying the missing color description herself. If the paragraph's subject remains uncertain when read alone, allow that uncertainty to remain. An imagined heading cannot supply a subject that the sentences leave unclear. Return to what each sentence says before choosing a phrase for the paragraph as a whole. Finish this reading with an account tied to the actual wording: what the paragraph discusses, what the heading led you to expect, and where those differ. Leave the received passage intact, including the heading that prompted the comparison. ## Where Sashmark fits In Sashmark's planned desktop v1, Markdown is text to read or edit. Sashmark continues in development, without internal AI. Any writing agent is separate.