When consistency stops helping the reader

Consistency supports clear, professional documents, but a rule can sometimes make a passage harder to read.

Consistency and judgement

Using different terms for the same concept or presenting the same elements differently does not necessarily mean that a writer has been careless or unprofessional. ¹ Consistency matters for clarity and professional appearance, but it should not take priority in every circumstance, including in regulatory documents. ¹ Common sense and empathy with the reader can justify a different approach where a rule does not help the reader. ^{1, 2, 3}

A style guide should be used with judgement about what the reader can understand. ³ For example, preferences for numerals and fewer hyphens produce four possible forms of the same statement. ³

• We held 1 1 day meeting.
• We held 1 1-day meeting.
• We held one 1 day meeting.
• We held one 1-day meeting.

³

The last form is easier to understand, even though it departs from those preferences. ³

Flexibility and the cost of perfection

There is more than one way to edit a text, and someone is likely to disagree with whichever approach is chosen. ^{4, 5} Editors should remain flexible and open-minded as English evolves. ^{4, 5}

A document need not be polished to a gold standard when a bronze standard is acceptable to its reader. ⁵ The incremental step towards perfection costs time and money, so editorial resources should be used cost-effectively within the available budget. ⁵