| Punctuation | Emdash overuse | Semicolons, commas, colons, or split into two sentences |
| Phrase | "Here's why" / "Here's why it matters" | Explain why directly without the lead-in |
| Phrase | "It's not X, it's Y" | "This is Y" or restate the distinction |
| Phrase | "Let's dive in" / "Let's get started" | Delete; just start the content |
| Phrase | "It's worth noting" / "Keep in mind" | Delete the hedge; state the fact |
| Phrase | "At its core" / "In essence" / "Fundamentally" | Delete; say the thing directly |
| Vocabulary | "delve", "tapestry", "landscape", "nuanced" | Replace with plain, specific language |
| Vocabulary | "revolutionize", "cutting-edge", "game-changer" | Replace with concrete claims or delete |
| Structure | Uniform sentence length throughout | Mix short (5-word) and long (20+ word) sentences |
| Structure | Perfectly balanced lists of exactly 3 items | Vary list length; humans use 2, 4, or odd counts |
| Structure | Generic claims without specifics | Add names, dates, numbers, or first-person detail |
| Sycophancy | "Great question!" / "Absolutely!" | Delete; answer the question directly |
| Meta | "Let me break this down..." / "Let me explain" | Delete the preamble; just break it down |
| Structure | Numbered lists where a sentence suffices | Use a sentence; reserve lists for genuinely parallel items |
| Closer | "In conclusion" / "To summarize" | Delete or replace with a specific takeaway |
| Code | Over-commented trivial functions | Remove comments that restate the code |
| Code | Unnecessary abstractions and design patterns | Flatten to the simplest working solution |
| Code | Verbose or overly descriptive variable names | Use domain-appropriate concise names |
| Code | Defensive error handling on every operation | Handle errors only where failure is realistic |
