writing-clearly-and-concisely

name	writing-clearly-and-concisely
description	Use when user says "improve my writing", "make this clearer", "edit for clarity", "copyedit", "proofread", "review my prose", or asks for help with documentation, README files, commit messages, error messages, UI text, comments, or any prose humans will read. Applies Strunk's Elements of Style rules to make writing clearer, stronger, and more concise.

Writing Clearly and Concisely

Reference

Read elements-of-style.md before writing or editing prose. It contains the complete Strunk rules with examples (~12k tokens).

When context is tight, dispatch a subagent with your draft and elements-of-style.md to copyedit.

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

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

Section V: Words and Expressions Commonly Misused

Alphabetical reference for usage questions