git:20260131.9f78a80 to git:20260318.4ba4f0c
7 added, 41 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: writing-clearly-and-concisely
description: Use when writing prose humans will read—documentation, commit messages, error messages, explanations, reports, or UI text. Applies Strunk's timeless rules for clearer, stronger, more professional writing.
---
# 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:
1. Write your draft using judgment
2. Dispatch a subagent with your draft and the relevant section file
3. 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)**:
-
- 1. Form possessive singular by adding 's
- 2. Use comma after each term in series except last
- 3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas
- 4. Comma before conjunction introducing co-ordinate clause
- 5. Don't join independent clauses by comma
- 6. Don't break sentences in two
- 7. Participial phrase at beginning refers to grammatical subject
-
- **Elementary Principles of Composition**:
-
- 8. One paragraph per topic
- 9. Begin paragraph with topic sentence
- 10. **Use active voice**
- 11. **Put statements in positive form**
- 12. **Use definite, specific, concrete language**
- 13. **Omit needless words**
- 14. Avoid succession of loose sentences
- 15. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form
- 16. **Keep related words together**
- 17. Keep to one tense in summaries
- 18. **Place emphatic words at end of sentence**
+ William Strunk Jr.'s *The Elements of Style* (1918) is the reference. The rules most violated in practice:
- ### Reference Files
+ - **Use active voice** — passive buries the agent and weakens sentences
+ - **Put statements in positive form** — "he was not honest" → "he was dishonest"
+ - **Use definite, specific, concrete language** — vague nouns and abstract claims lose readers
+ - **Omit needless words** — every word should do work
+ - **Place emphatic words at end of sentence** — the last word is the most memorable position
- The rules above are summarized from Strunk's original text. For complete explanations with examples:
+ For complete rules with examples, load the relevant section:
| 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.