diff --git a/spacy/cli/pretrain.py b/spacy/cli/pretrain.py
index ada224b3b..456739bf5 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/pretrain.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/pretrain.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ def make_update(model, docs, optimizer, drop=0.):
     return loss
 
 
-def make_docs(nlp, batch):
+def make_docs(nlp, batch, min_length=1, max_length=500):
     docs = []
     for record in batch:
         text = record["text"]
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ def make_docs(nlp, batch):
             heads = numpy.asarray(heads, dtype="uint64")
             heads = heads.reshape((len(doc), 1))
             doc = doc.from_array([HEAD], heads)
-        if len(doc) >= 1 and len(doc) < 200:
+        if len(doc) >= min_length and len(doc) < max_length:
             docs.append(doc)
     return docs