writing-clearly-and-concisely
Apply Strunk's timeless writing rules to ANY prose humans will read - documentation, commit messages, error messages, explanations, reports, or UI text. Makes your writing clearer, stronger, and more professional.
Best use case
writing-clearly-and-concisely is best used when you need a repeatable AI agent workflow instead of a one-off prompt.
Apply Strunk's timeless writing rules to ANY prose humans will read - documentation, commit messages, error messages, explanations, reports, or UI text. Makes your writing clearer, stronger, and more professional.
Teams using writing-clearly-and-concisely should expect a more consistent output, faster repeated execution, less prompt rewriting.
When to use this skill
- You want a reusable workflow that can be run more than once with consistent structure.
When not to use this skill
- You only need a quick one-off answer and do not need a reusable workflow.
- You cannot install or maintain the underlying files, dependencies, or repository context.
Installation
Claude Code / Cursor / Codex
Manual Installation
- Download SKILL.md from GitHub
- Place it in
.claude/skills/writing-clearly-and-concisely/SKILL.mdinside your project - Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill
How writing-clearly-and-concisely Compares
| Feature / Agent | writing-clearly-and-concisely | Standard Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Support | Not specified | Limited / Varies |
| Context Awareness | High | Baseline |
| Installation Complexity | Unknown | N/A |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this skill do?
Apply Strunk's timeless writing rules to ANY prose humans will read - documentation, commit messages, error messages, explanations, reports, or UI text. Makes your writing clearer, stronger, and more professional.
Where can I find the source code?
You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.
SKILL.md Source
# Writing Clearly and Concisely
## Overview
William Strunk Jr.'s _The Elements of Style_ (1918) teaches you to write clearly and cut ruthlessly.
**WARNING:** `elements-of-style.md` consumes ~12,000 tokens. Read it only when writing or editing prose.
## 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
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
## Bottom line
Writing for humans? Read [{baseDir}/elements-of-style.md](elements-of-style.md) and apply the rules.Related Skills
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