Resolve ambiguous pronouns in agent handoffs

An agent's handoff says, "Keep it beside the original." You can read every word and still not know what to keep. If the previous sentence mentions a draft and a separate paragraph, it could mean either one. Choosing a noun changes the action.

Fictional Jane Doe is the intended reader of these invented handoff passages. Every person and piece of work in them is made up. Read each passage as someone about to act on its wording, with the action paused wherever a pronoun leaves two possibilities.

Give it two possible nouns

Jane Doe has a revised draft and a shorter opening. Keep it beside the original.

The possible nouns are the revised draft and the shorter opening. Put each one where it appears in the second sentence. Read "Keep the revised draft beside the original." Then read "Keep the shorter opening beside the original."

Both readings fit the passage. The first preserves a whole draft; the second preserves only its opening. Nothing in the quoted wording chooses between them. Ask, "Does it mean the revised draft or the shorter opening?" Leave both alone until the answer names one.

There is another unresolved phrase here: "the original." An original draft and an original opening are different things too. Once the phrase has a named meaning, reread the full action. If the destination remains unclear, ask which original is meant before putting anything beside it.

Read this as an object and as an action

Jane Doe moved the final paragraph into a separate draft. This needs another look before any edits.

This could mean the final paragraph, the separate draft, or moving the paragraph. Try all three in the second sentence: "The final paragraph needs another look before any edits." "The separate draft needs another look before any edits." "Moving the paragraph needs another look before any edits."

Those readings concern different things. Reading a paragraph asks about its words. Reading the separate draft includes its surrounding text. Reconsidering the move asks whether the paragraph belongs elsewhere at all. Ask which of those is intended; do not treat another look at one as an answer about all three.

A Markdown file can hold the passage, but its file type does not choose a meaning for this. Keep your attention on what the sentence asks you to examine.

Separate that from whatever came last

Jane Doe kept the old title and moved the final paragraph. Leave that alone for now.

The old title and the final paragraph are possible nouns for that. The move itself is another possible meaning. Substituting gives "Leave the old title alone for now," "Leave the final paragraph alone for now," and "Leave the move alone for now."

A reader could follow the first reading while changing the paragraph. A reader following the second could change the title. The third leaves the paragraph's placement untouched without settling whether its wording can change. Ask whether that means the title, the paragraph, or its placement before making an edit affected by the sentence.

Short quoted passages keep the competing readings visible here. They do not need fenced text; Markdown code blocks describe a different way to display literal material. Extra formatting would not settle which noun that refers to.

Give they an explicit person or group

Jane Doe spoke with Alex Doe about the two drafts. They need another look before the opening changes.

They could mean Jane Doe, Alex Doe, both people together, or the two drafts. Read the sentence with each possibility: "Jane Doe needs another look," "Alex Doe needs another look," "Jane Doe and Alex Doe need another look," and "The two drafts need another look."

For a person, "needs another look" could mean wanting to read the text again. For the drafts, it describes material awaiting attention. Those are distinct meanings even though the same short sentence accommodates them. Ask, "Who or what does they mean here?" Ask for the answer to name the person or the drafts.

Changing needs to need to fit the replacement does not decide the meaning. Nor does knowing how someone uses they tell you whether this particular sentence refers to that person or to the drafts.

Carry one uncertain word through the passage

When you reach an uncertain pronoun, pause the action it affects. Read back far enough to name the possible nouns or actions. Substitute each one and read through the next sentence too. Discard a reading only when the surrounding wording excludes it. If two survive, ask a question that names both; if there are three, name all three. Continue once the answer identifies what the word meant.

A filename can distinguish two drafts if the answer uses it. The article on naming Markdown files discusses names for separate files. Here, the immediate need is to hear which existing draft the handoff means, rather than inventing a name and assuming agreement.

Keep the uncertain wording and its competing readings together while asking. "Which draft does it mean?" is useful when both possibilities are drafts. "Does it mean the draft or the opening?" preserves the actual choice in the first passage. The question ends when the thing is named, not when one reading merely feels more likely.

Where Sashmark fits

Desktop v1 for Sashmark is in development. Reading Markdown and editing its text are planned uses. AI is absent here; you supply the interpretation when a pronoun leaves its noun uncertain.