Oh, hey, I figured it out, sort of.
The name of the variable that I want is “item described”. Simply checking to see if “the item described is the light bulb” still doesn’t quite work, however, because the reaching outside rules apparently get checked for both the noun and the second noun every time, regardless of whether or not you actually have to reach outside of something to touch them. This means that if the action has two nouns, then eventually “the item described” will be something that isn’t the light bulb, and the action will fail even if both items were technically within reach.
So, for the curious, here’s how I ended up solving the problem:
[code]The Garage is a room. “The light bulb in the ceiling is burned out again, and all you have to stand on is that wretched stool. One day you’re going to break your neck on that thing.”
A light bulb is here. It is scenery.
The wobbly stool is here. It is a scenery, enterable supporter.
Instead of doing something when the current action involves the light bulb and the player is not on the wobbly stool (this is the can’t reach the light bulb rule):
say “You can’t reach the light bulb from here.”
The can’t reach the light bulb rule is listed first in the instead rules.
A dental floss is here. The indefinite article is “some”.
Instead of tying the dental floss to something:
say “You loop the dental floss around [the second noun] and knot it tight.”;
now the dental floss is part of the second noun.
Rule for reaching outside the wobbly stool:
if the item described is the light bulb or the item described is enclosed by the wobbly stool:
allow access;
otherwise:
say “You’ll have to get down off the wobbly stool first.”;
deny access.
Test me with “touch bulb / get on stool / touch bulb / get floss / tie floss to bulb / get off stool / get floss / tie floss to bulb / get on stool / tie floss to bulb”.[/code]