Writing Clearly and Concisely

Writing Clearly and Concisely

Overview

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

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.

All 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

Custom rules

• Preserve every idea and fact unless clarity demands a change
• Keep paragraphs short (no more than three brief sentences)
• Vary sentence length to avoid monotony
• Replace jargon and complex words with plain, direct language; use contractions
• Remove clichés, filler adverbs, and stock metaphors (e.g., "navigate," "journey," "roadmap")
• Avoid bullet points unless essential for scan-ability
• Never add a summary or recap at the end—finish on a crisp, final line
• Do not use em dashes; use commas, periods, or rewrite as needed
• Add dry humor or an idiom if it fits, but never sound like an infomercial
• After rewriting, review and fix any sentence that still feels machine-made