Antidote User Guide

The Retouch view offers suggestions to improve wording where it detects potential style issues. More specifically, this view detects and reformulates the following:

• passive voice (This kind of task can only be performed by a qualified technician. > Only a qualified technician can perform this kind of task.)
• impersonal constructions (There was a fox standing at the end of the driveway. > A fox stood at the end of the driveway.)
• wordiness (I don’t remember what the correct answer is. > I don’t remember the correct answer.)
• double negatives (The plan doesn’t seem completely unworkable. > The plan seems feasible.)
• commonplace verbs (We made a decision to cut ties. > We decided to cut ties.)
• long sentences

You can use these subtle yet effective changes to touch up your text so it flows better and feels more dynamic.

• When results are available, a blue dot appears beside the view in the navigation bar.

Reformulation Options

The reformulation options in the Retouch view are found at the end of the list of results. Click on the chevron to display them.

These options cover all the phrases that the Retouch view looks to reformulate. You can adjust them individually so that Antidote adapts its reformulation criteria to your needs and priorities.

• These options are shared with the corresponding filters in the Style view. Changes made in either view are instantly applied to both.

Passives, Impersonal Constructions, Negatives, Commonplace Verbs

Adjust each slider so that Antidote reformulates all occurrences of a type of construction (maximum level) or only the most blatant cases (minimum and intermediate levels). Consult the tooltip for each level of the slider for a description of cases that Antidote will attempt to reformulate according to the type of construction.

Include to be

Antidote can include the verb to be in its scan for commonplace verbs. However, if the size of the text submitted for reformulation is considerable, you might want to skip this, considering how common this verb is in English. Uncheck this checkbox as needed. This option does not apply to contexts where to be is used as an auxiliary (e.g. I had been running).

Long Sentences

Antidote will offer reformulations for sentences in the text that exceed the threshold set by you.

Multiple Reformulations

Antidote typically reformulates a passage a variety of ways when its length allows. Retouch organizes these reformulation suggestions in the tooltip, from the one most faithful to the source to the most creative option, with fidelity based on the number and nature of the proposed changes. You can compare different suggestions and make your choice by clicking the chevrons on either side of the active reformulation or the grey dots beneath it.

Initial Suggestion

The Initial suggestion option allows you to choose the creativity level of the reformulation shown first. Refer to the four grey dots, and keep in mind that the first corresponds to the lowest level of creativity (i.e., the most faithful to the original sentence) and the last corresponds to the most creative, i.e. the reformulation with the most changes compared to the original sentence. Your choice for the initial suggestion is maintained for all reformulations in the Retouch view. You can choose a different initial suggestion for each view.

• Access this option by clicking the button in the upper right corner of the reformulation tooltip. 

Targeted Reformulation (Style View)

The Retouch view is linked to the Style view in Correction mode. When you Retouch your text, Antidote takes all potential style issues into account. When you review your text in the Style view, however, Antidote handles each issue through a separate filter. If you would like Antidote to make suggestions that target a specific issue, work in the Style view. To reformulate your writing more broadly, click the magic flask icon () in the Style view’s tooltip to switch over to the Retouch view, where you can choose from additional reformulation options.

Antidote offers targeted reformulation for the following types of style detections:

• Passive voice (Constructions filter)
• Impersonal constructions (Constructions filter)
• Wordy constructions (Constructions filter)
• Negative constructions (Constructions filter)
• Commonplace verbs (Vocabulary filter)
• Long sentences (Readability filter)

• See also the Style View section.