writing-clearly-and-concisely
Improves prose readability by enforcing active voice and positive phrasing for documentation and logs.
Install
mkdir -p .claude/skills/writing-clearly-and-concisely && curl -L -o skill.zip "https://agentskills.codes/api/skills/download/1654" && unzip -o skill.zip -d .claude/skills/writing-clearly-and-concisely && rm skill.zipInstalls to .claude/skills/writing-clearly-and-concisely
Activation
This is the description your AI agent reads to decide when to run this skill — the better it matches your request, the more reliably it fires.
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.Key capabilities
- →Enforce active voice in technical documentation
- →Identify and eliminate redundant word usage
- →Structure prose according to Strunk's elementary principles
- →Convert negative phrasing into positive statements
- →Improve sentence cohesion and flow
How it works
Processes text against a set of classical grammar and composition rules to identify and replace weak prose with direct, specific language.
Inputs & outputs
When to use writing-clearly-and-concisely
- →Edit pull request descriptions for clarity
- →Refine technical documentation
- →Improve error message phrasing
- →Summarize complex technical reports
About this skill
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.
When not to use it
- →When writing creative fiction or poetry where stylistic rule-breaking is required
- →When formatting machine-generated data files (JSON, CSV)
Limitations
- →Can strip nuance if applied too rigidly
- →Subjective quality assessment may vary based on style preferences
How it compares
It enforces traditional, objective writing standards (Strunk) rather than simply rewriting for flow or casual tone.
Compared to similar skills
writing-clearly-and-concisely side by side with the closest alternatives in the catalog.
| Skill | Installs | Updated | Safety | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| writing-clearly-and-concisely (this skill) | 3 | 6mo | No flags | Beginner |
| professional-proofreader | 0 | 2mo | No flags | Beginner |
| writing-style | 0 | 1mo | No flags | Beginner |
| proofread | 0 | 1mo | No flags | Beginner |
Try saying
Example prompts that trigger this skill in your AI assistant.
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