Style Tells

Style tells

Source: points/ai-writing-rules.md (em-dash rule), points/core-rules.md rule 5 (be shorter), points/banned-jargon.md, and Stephen King's On Writing (the adverb rule).

What this skill does

Three passes behind one skill. Each pass removes a different surface tell that flags writing as AI-generated, padded, or jargon-heavy:

Default --target all runs all three in order: jargon → adverbs → em-dashes. The order matters: jargon and adverbs often expose dashes that were holding bloated clauses together.

How to invoke

/style-tells "draft text"
/style-tells --target em-dashes "draft text"
/style-tells --target adverbs "draft text"
/style-tells --target jargon "draft text"
/style-tells --target all "draft text"

Without --target, default to all.

Target 1 — em-dashes

In 2026 the em-dash is the #1 AI tell. Models love them. Humans use them sparingly. A draft with twelve em-dashes per page is a confession that an AI wrote it.

Format limits

Over the limit → scrub.

Substitution table

The right substitution depends on what the em-dash was doing:

• Aside / clarification → parenthesis or colon
• List or apposition → colon
• Tone shift / interruption → period (start a new sentence)
• Connective ("and so") → "and," "so," or comma

When NOT to remove

• Inside a direct quote from someone else (preserve their punctuation)
• Inside dialogue if the speaker would naturally pause that way
• Inside a code block, file path, or URL
• Inside a quoted citation (e.g., a book title rendered with em-dash)

If unsure, ask the user.

Target 2 — adverbs

"The adverb is not your friend. The road to hell is paved with adverbs." — Stephen King

Most adverbs are evidence the verb wasn't strong enough. "She walked quickly" → "she rushed." "He smiled broadly" → "he grinned." "It is very important" → "it matters."

Adverbs also leak the writer's anxiety: "clearly," "obviously," "of course" are tells that the writer is afraid the reader won't agree. Kill them; let the argument stand.

Category A — empty intensifiers (cut on sight, ~95% of the time)

Category B — adverbs the verb already implies (rewrite the verb)

Category C — sentence-starting adverbs (almost always cut)

Adverbs to keep (the 5% that earn their place)

• They specify when, where, or how-much that the verb can't carry. "She arrived early" — the adverb is the whole point.
• They preserve a deliberate cadence. "He walked slowly, then faster, then ran" — the contrast does work.
• They are the joke. "She, very politely, told him to fuck off."
• In dialogue. Real people say "really" and "actually."
• In specifications. "The query runs roughly twice as fast" — "roughly" carries epistemic weight.

If you can't articulate why the adverb earns its place, cut it.

Target 3 — jargon

Two operations: find every banned word, AI tell, and wordy phrase, then replace with the shortest, plainest alternative. If a sentence collapses without the jargon, the sentence was empty; cut it.

The kill list

Silicon Valley / academic jargon (always) currently, synergy, synergize, leverage, align, drive, strategize, empower, enable, deliverables, utilize, incentivize, facilitate, impact (as a verb), at the intersection of, driving innovation, building and scaling, passionate about complex problems

Grammar errors

• irregardless → regardless
• literally (when used metaphorically)
• ironic (when you mean coincidental)

Wordy phrases

AI tells (scrub)

• "It's not just X — it's Y." (most common AI tic)
• "In today's [adjective] world"
• "Delve into"
• "Navigate the complexities of"
• "Tapestry of"
• "Robust solution"
• "Cutting-edge"
• "Game-changer"
• Tricolons everywhere ("X, Y, and Z" three times in three sentences)
• Hedge-then-commit: "While there are many considerations, ultimately…"

Cold-email-specific killers

• "I hope you are well"
• "My name is X"
• "Good morning" / "Good afternoon" (timezone unknown)
• "I'd love to pick your brain"
• "I'd love to grab coffee"
• "Just following up"

How to run the pass

Pass 1 — Inventory

Scan the draft. For each target requested via --target, mark every hit. Count.

Pass 2 — Categorize and rewrite

For each hit, decide:

• Em-dash: what was the dash doing? Aside / list / shift / connective → pick the right substitution.
• Adverb: empty intensifier (cut), verb-implied (rewrite verb), sentence-starter (cut), or earns its place (keep with one-line reason).
• Jargon: plain-English replacement, or cut the sentence if it collapses.

Pass 3 — Read aloud

Did the prose get tighter, plainer, more human? If something now reads worse, the original word was doing real work. Put it back.

Output format

## Inventory
em-dashes: N
adverbs: N
jargon hits: N
Total: N

## Hits (grouped by target)

### em-dashes
1. Line N: "the original sentence with the —"
   Function: aside | apposition | tone-shift | connective
   Rewrite: "the rewritten sentence"

### adverbs
1. Line N: "the original sentence"
   Removed: <word> (category: empty intensifier / verb-implied / sentence-starter)
   Rewrite: "the rewritten sentence"

### jargon
1. Line N: "the original sentence with the jargon"
   Banned: <word/phrase>
   Rewrite: "the rewritten sentence"
   Or cut entirely if: <reason>

## Kept with reason
- "she arrived early" — adverb is the point (specifies when)
- "the query runs roughly twice as fast" — epistemic hedge, earns its place

## Clean draft
[The full text with every requested target replaced. No commentary.]

The litmus test

Read the rewrite aloud. Does the prose sound more like a human typing on a keyboard than the original? If yes, ship. If the rewrite reads jagged or robotic, back off — try a different substitution.

The goal is human prose, not purity.

When the user pushes back on jargon cuts

Common: "but my industry uses these words."

Response: "Your industry says them. Your readers tune them out. The people who get read are the ones who don't sound like everyone else."

When NOT to run

• Direct quotes from someone else — preserve their words verbatim.
• Dialogue in fiction or scene-writing — adverbs and em-dashes are how people actually talk and pause.
• Legal or technical specs where the adverb has precise meaning (approximately, substantially, materially can have legal weight).
• Poetry, song lyrics, rhythm-driven prose — sometimes a "softly" is doing musical work.