Editing for Clarity and Tone
Overview
Improve an existing draft without silently changing what it says. The governing contract is fidelity first, then clarity, structure, density, and tone.
Establish the Editing Contract
Identify:
- the exact text in scope;
- audience and genre when known;
- requested tone, formality, length, or house style;
- facts and claims that must remain unchanged;
- protected spans: quotations, citations, URLs, code, identifiers, names, dates, numbers, legal wording, headings, or user-marked text.
If the user asks for fact-checking, research, or substantive expansion, treat that as a separate task. Do not disguise new claims as editing.
Edit in Passes
- Meaning: resolve only ambiguities that can be fixed without guessing. Flag uncertainty rather than inventing intent.
- Structure: put the reader's needed context before dependent detail; merge repetition and split overloaded paragraphs when useful.
- Sentences: prefer direct subjects and verbs, remove filler, reduce nested qualifiers, and keep necessary nuance.
- Terminology: make repeated concepts consistent without replacing precise domain language with generic synonyms.
- Tone: adjust distance, warmth, formality, confidence, and rhythm to the requested situation. Tone must not change the certainty of factual claims.
- Length: cut redundancy before cutting evidence, conditions, exceptions, or action-critical detail.
- Fidelity check: compare the revision against the source for changed numbers, names, claims, citations, scope, obligations, and conclusions.
Minimum-Effective-Edit Rule
Prefer the smallest change that achieves the requested improvement. Distinctive phrasing is not a defect simply because another sentence would sound smoother.
Do not normalize every paragraph into the same cadence, add generic transitions, or make a personal draft sound like corporate copy unless that is the explicit target.
Boundary With Humanization
Use humanizing-generated-prose when the explicit problem is generic or AI-shaped writing and the revision needs pattern-level naturalization while preserving protected content. Use this method for broader editorial work where clarity, tone, structure, or concision is the primary goal.
Deliverable
When the user asks for a rewrite, return the complete revised text. Add explanation only when requested or when a material ambiguity, protected conflict, or substantive change needs disclosure.
Reference Signals
GDS/ONS plain-language guidance supports user-focused structure, concise sentences, task-centered headings, and common language. Microsoft and Google style guidance reinforce direct, helpful, accessible prose and consistency for global audiences.
1---2name: editing-for-clarity-and-tone3description: Use when revising existing prose for clarity, concision, structure, readability, or an explicitly requested tone while preserving the original meaning and factual content.4---56# Editing for Clarity and Tone78## Overview910Improve an existing draft without silently changing what it says. The governing contract is fidelity first, then clarity, structure, density, and tone.1112## Establish the Editing Contract1314Identify:1516- the exact text in scope;17- audience and genre when known;18- requested tone, formality, length, or house style;19- facts and claims that must remain unchanged;20- protected spans: quotations, citations, URLs, code, identifiers, names, dates, numbers, legal wording, headings, or user-marked text.2122If the user asks for fact-checking, research, or substantive expansion, treat that as a separate task. Do not disguise new claims as editing.2324## Edit in Passes25261. **Meaning:** resolve only ambiguities that can be fixed without guessing. Flag uncertainty rather than inventing intent.272. **Structure:** put the reader's needed context before dependent detail; merge repetition and split overloaded paragraphs when useful.283. **Sentences:** prefer direct subjects and verbs, remove filler, reduce nested qualifiers, and keep necessary nuance.294. **Terminology:** make repeated concepts consistent without replacing precise domain language with generic synonyms.305. **Tone:** adjust distance, warmth, formality, confidence, and rhythm to the requested situation. Tone must not change the certainty of factual claims.316. **Length:** cut redundancy before cutting evidence, conditions, exceptions, or action-critical detail.327. **Fidelity check:** compare the revision against the source for changed numbers, names, claims, citations, scope, obligations, and conclusions.3334## Minimum-Effective-Edit Rule3536Prefer the smallest change that achieves the requested improvement. Distinctive phrasing is not a defect simply because another sentence would sound smoother.3738Do not normalize every paragraph into the same cadence, add generic transitions, or make a personal draft sound like corporate copy unless that is the explicit target.3940## Boundary With Humanization4142Use `humanizing-generated-prose` when the explicit problem is generic or AI-shaped writing and the revision needs pattern-level naturalization while preserving protected content. Use this method for broader editorial work where clarity, tone, structure, or concision is the primary goal.4344## Deliverable4546When the user asks for a rewrite, return the complete revised text. Add explanation only when requested or when a material ambiguity, protected conflict, or substantive change needs disclosure.4748## Reference Signals4950GDS/ONS plain-language guidance supports user-focused structure, concise sentences, task-centered headings, and common language. Microsoft and Google style guidance reinforce direct, helpful, accessible prose and consistency for global audiences.
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