Help with sequence extension?

[daobrien]

I don't work much with NLTK so might be missing something fundamental.
I'd like to write a rule that identifies "following" when it is not followed by a noun. I fully expect to have to tune this later, but for now I just want to get going. E.g.,

These statements are fine, and should not trigger any rules:
"Refer to the following list:"
"The following statements are valid:"

These and similar statements should trigger the rule:
"Refer to the following:"
"The following are common solutions:"

I've been trying to do this by using the sequence extension:

tokens:
  - tag: JJ
    pattern: following
  - tag: NN|NNS|NNP|NNPS

I haven't worked out how to identify punctuation yet; one thing at a time.
I'd really appreciate any help.
Thanks a lot.
David

[jdkato]

I think you want to negate the final token:

extends: sequence
message: "Don't use '%s'."
tokens:
  - pattern: following
  - tag: NN|NNS|NNP|NNPS
    negate: true

[daobrien]

Thank you. I'll try this very soon; tomorrow, hopefully.