write-concisely

Decision Router

IF writing or editing documentation for human readers → Apply the full set of composition principles IF reviewing existing text for conciseness → Apply Omit Needless Words, Active Voice, Positive Form IF writing code comments or internal docs → Focus on clarity and concreteness, skip usage rules IF translating technical content to user-facing docs → Prioritize concrete language and positive form

Write Concisely

Apply Strunk & White's Elements of Style principles to any text a human will read. Claude already knows these rules — this skill exists to remind you to apply them. Do not explain the rules in your output; simply apply them.

Principles of Composition

1. Use the active voice — more direct and vigorous than passive
2. Put statements in positive form — say what is, not what isn't
3. Use definite, specific, concrete language — prefer specifics to generalities
4. Omit needless words — every word must tell
5. Keep related words together — position shows relationship
6. Place emphatic words at the end — the end is the position of prominence
7. Use parallel construction — coordinate ideas in similar form
8. One paragraph per topic — begin with a topic sentence

Words to Watch

Avoid	Prefer
the fact that	since, because
in a hasty manner	hastily
he is a man who	he
due to (adverbial)	because of
along these lines	rephrase directly
the question as to whether	whether
there is no doubt but that	no doubt

Application

When writing documentation, run through each principle mentally and check your text for violations. The most impactful ones to apply:

1. Scan for passive voice — rewrite to active where the subject is performing the action
2. Scan for "there is/are" constructions — replace with a stronger verb
3. Scan for negative statements — replace with positive form
4. Scan for wordy phrases — replace with their concise equivalents
5. Scan for vague language — replace with concrete specifics

Do not enumerate which rules you applied in your output. Simply produce cleaner text.

Design Decisions

Why not include the full text of Elements of Style

Claude already knows these rules from training. The skill's only job is to trigger their application. Full rule text wastes context and adds no behavioral change.

Relationship to development pipeline

• Applied during documentation creation and review
• Complements update-docs by enforcing quality on the output
• Operates on the final text layer, not the code or structure layer