writing-clearly-and-concisely

SKILL.md

Writing Clearly and Concisely

Overview

Write with clarity and force. This skill covers what to do (Strunk) and what not to do (AI patterns).

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill whenever you write prose for humans:

Documentation, README files, technical explanations

Commit messages, pull request descriptions

Error messages, UI copy, help text, comments

Reports, summaries, or any explanation

Editing to improve clarity

If you're writing sentences for a human to read, use this skill.

Limited Context Strategy
When context is tight:

Write your draft using judgment

Dispatch a subagent with your draft and the relevant section file

Have the subagent copyedit and return the revision

Loading a single section (~1,000-4,500 tokens) instead of everything saves significant context.

Elements of Style

William Strunk Jr.'s The Elements of Style (1918) teaches you to write clearly and cut ruthlessly.

Rules

Elementary Rules of Usage (Grammar/Punctuation):

Form possessive singular by adding 's

Use comma after each term in series except last

Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas

Comma before conjunction introducing co-ordinate clause

Don't join independent clauses by comma

Don't break sentences in two

Participial phrase at beginning refers to grammatical subject

Elementary Principles of Composition:

One paragraph per topic

Begin paragraph with topic sentence

Use active voice

Put statements in positive form

Use definite, specific, concrete language

Omit needless words

Avoid succession of loose sentences

Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form

Keep related words together

Keep to one tense in summaries

Place emphatic words at end of sentence

Reference Files

The rules above are summarized from Strunk's original text. For complete explanations with examples:

Section
File
~Tokens

Grammar, punctuation, comma rules
02-elementary-rules-of-usage.md
2,500

Paragraph structure, active voice, concision
03-elementary-principles-of-composition.md
4,500

Headings, quotations, formatting
04-a-few-matters-of-form.md
1,000

Word choice, common errors
05-words-and-expressions-commonly-misused.md
4,000

Most tasks need only 03-elementary-principles-of-composition.md — it covers active voice, positive form, concrete language, and omitting needless words.

AI Writing Patterns to Avoid

LLMs regress to statistical means, producing generic, puffy prose. Avoid:

Puffery: pivotal, crucial, vital, testament, enduring legacy

Empty "-ing" phrases: ensuring reliability, showcasing features, highlighting capabilities

Promotional adjectives: groundbreaking, seamless, robust, cutting-edge

Overused AI vocabulary: delve, leverage, multifaceted, foster, realm, tapestry

Formatting overuse: excessive bullets, emoji decorations, bold on every other word

Be specific, not grandiose. Say what it actually does.

For comprehensive research on why these patterns occur, see signs-of-ai-writing.md. Wikipedia editors developed this guide to detect AI-generated submissions — their patterns are well-documented and field-tested.

Bottom Line

Writing for humans? Load the relevant section from elements-of-style/ and apply the rules. For most tasks, 03-elementary-principles-of-composition.md covers what matters most.
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