Add one sentence per line to the style guide (#2470) (#2579)

* issue #2463 one sentence per line style guide

* Apply suggestions from code review

---------


(cherry picked from commit 6aacf90)

Co-authored-by: Don Naro <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Sandra McCann <[email protected]>

Author: 3 people

docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/style_guide/basic_rules.rst

@@ -41,6 +41,32 @@ Bad:
 Better:
     Extraction also requires large volumes of water.
 
+.. _one_sentence_per_line:
+
+Use one sentence per line
+-------------------------
+Consider using a technique called *one sentence per line* when composing paragraphs, or use at least one line per sentence (following https://sembr.org/).
+This technique allows you to format RST and Markdown source in a natural and semantic way that is easy to review and edit.
+
+Lines of text that occur next to each other are rendered as a paragraph so readers do not notice the line breaks between sentences.
+To create a new paragraph, add an empty line between sentences.
+You can still soft wrap lines of text when using one sentence per line.
+The important thing is that each line starts at the left margin.
+
+Using one sentence per line reduces cognitive load and makes life much easier for people who review changes.
+Diffs become much more straightforward and easier to parse.
+For example, when multiple sentences are wrapped at a fixed column width, a change at the start of a paragraph causes the remaining lines in the paragraph to reposition.
+
+In addition to the advantages for version control, one sentence per line makes it easier to do the following:
+
+- Swap sentences around.
+- Separate or join paragraphs.
+- Comment individual sentences.
+- Identify sentences that are too long or that vary widely in length.
+- Spot redundant patterns in your writing.
+
+For an example of the one sentence per line in the Ansible documentation, take a look at the RST source under ``docs/docsite/rst/getting_started/``.
+
 Avoid verbosity
 ---------------
 Write short, succinct sentences. Avoid terms like:

docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/style_guide/grammar_punctuation.rst

@@ -196,6 +196,9 @@ Spacing after sentences
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 Use only a single space after a sentence.
 
+.. note::
+    One sentence per line is preferred to wrapping sentences over multiple lines. See :ref:`one_sentence_per_line`.
+
 Time
 ^^^^
 * Time of day is written as "4 p.m."