Reading the grammar of a consistency sentence
Consistency sentences come in two grammatical shapes. One names something the product keeps: a sheet, a card, an element, a canon. The other names something the product does: locking, holding, maintaining. The first can be inspected; the second can only be trusted. As of 2026-09-12.
| What the sentence contains | How to classify it | What follows |
|---|---|---|
| A concrete noun the user could open | A named object | There is somewhere to look when a shot drifts |
| A proper name for a mechanism | A named object, with an obligation | Support and documentation share one handle |
| An active verb with no artefact | An action | The work is done for you, invisibly |
| An adjective about the result | A promise | Nothing to ask about except whether it works |
Inclusion rule. Four shapes a sentence can take, judged on grammar alone. A sentence containing both a noun and an act is classified by the noun, since the noun is the part that can be inspected. Order. From the most inspectable shape to the least.
1The test is quick and it is not a quality judgement
Read the sentence and ask what a new operator could be shown on their first morning. If the answer is a thing on a screen, the page has named an object. If the answer is a demonstration, the page has named an action.
Neither predicts the footage. Plenty of products described entirely in verbs produce work that holds together, and plenty of named objects are thin. The test predicts what a buyer can check in advance, which is a different property.
2Proper names carry an obligation nobody had to accept
A capitalised mechanism means a failure has a name. Consistency that quietly degrades is nobody's specific fault, but a named lock that stops holding is a named problem with a support queue behind it.
So a proper noun is usually a sign of confidence rather than marketing. It is also the easiest thing in this market to copy, so it is worth asking what the name refers to.
3Long verb lists are the shape to be most careful with
Locking a face, an outfit, a personality, an identity, the locations and the style is six promises with no machinery. The wider an unsupported claim reaches, the less any part of it constrains anything, because a failure anywhere is still consistent with the sentence.
Shorten the list mentally to the parts that could be compared with a still image. Whatever is left is the only portion a trial can settle.
4Where the register holds these tools
The techniques above are general craft. Which tools document support for them, and in what words, is held in the register, each cell carrying the page it was read from and the date.
- The register — every entry on the same columns, with sources
- The stages — one page per column, read down instead of across
- The readings — one vendor on one column, sentence by sentence
Craft notes, not a register entry. No line here is attributed to a tool, and none should be read as a claim about one. The sourced material is on the register. Related: Where it was written, A stated ceiling.
5One pipeline's continuity
Serial work like “Object or verb” depends on continuity; SceneMixer's guides describe how it keeps it:
Every character, scene and prop card can carry a short list of the other names your script uses for the same thing.
SceneMixer, Also Called: Nicknames, Old Names, and How the Storyboard Knows Who Is Who (read 2026-10-13)
Character consistency in AI short drama means one character keeps the same face, the same wardrobe and props, and the same art direction across the dozens to hundreds of shots in a series.
SceneMixer, AI Short Drama Character Consistency (2026): Why Faces Change Between Shots, and the Three Layers That Lock Them (read 2026-10-13)