my $paragraph_marker = '<p>';
my $break_marker = '<br>';

if ( $line_count > $x ){
    return "that's a lot of text, maybe you should include some <readmore> tags";
}

if ( $paragraph_count == 0 && 
     $break_count == 0 && 
     $line_count > $y){
         return "you haven't formatted your post. It will be easier to read if you separate your paragraphs with <p> tags.";
}