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theyoungastronautstheyoungastronauts/polaris/skills/writing-clearly/SKILL.md

writing-clearly

Skill4 starsChanged 3 months agoMITView on GitHub

Rules for clear, concise writing. Apply when drafting or editing docs, READMEs, comments, commit bodies, or any user-facing prose.

3 other projects use a version of this.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

9 rules. 0 are common, 9 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.

  • 0

    Common

    Most of the 3 edited versions we read keep these.

  • 9

    Distinctive

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 0

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    Write with clarity and force.

    line 12
  2. Distinctive:

    Use this skill whenever you write prose for humans:

    line 16
  3. Distinctive:

    Commit messages, pull request descriptions

    line 19
  4. Distinctive:

    Use comma after each term in series except last

    line 35
  5. Distinctive:

    Don't join independent clauses by comma

    line 38
  6. Distinctive:

    Don't break sentences in two

    line 39
  7. Distinctive:

    Avoid succession of loose sentences

    line 50
  8. Distinctive:

    Keep to one tense in summaries

    line 53
  9. Distinctive:

    When writing for humans: use active voice, put statements in positive form, be specific, and omit needless words.

    line 81

“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 3 edited versions of this file we could read. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

Writing Clearly and Concisely

Adapted from softaworks/agent-toolkit

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.

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:

  1. One paragraph per topic
  2. Begin paragraph with topic sentence
  3. Use active voice
  4. Put statements in positive form
  5. Use definite, specific, concrete language
  6. Omit needless words
  7. Avoid succession of loose sentences
  8. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form
  9. Keep related words together
  10. Keep to one tense in summaries
  11. Place emphatic words at end of sentence

The Most Important Rules (10-13, 16, 18)

  • Active voice: "The team shipped the feature" not "The feature was shipped by the team"
  • Positive form: "He forgot" not "He did not remember"
  • Specific language: "It rained every day for a week" not "A period of unfavorable weather set in"
  • Omit needless words: "The question as to whether" → "Whether". "He is a man who" → "He". "The reason why is that" → "Because"
  • Keep related words together: Subject near verb, modifier near the word it modifies
  • Emphatic words at end: "Humanity has barely noticed this loss" not "This loss has barely been noticed by humanity"

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 the full catalog of AI writing tells (sentence structure, tone, composition patterns), use /write-as-human.

Bottom Line

When writing for humans: use active voice, put statements in positive form, be specific, and omit needless words. If it sounds like marketing copy, rewrite it.

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