# 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. Use when this capability is needed.

- Skill: `tomevault-io/writing-clearly-and-concisely-4` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/writing-clearly-and-concisely-4`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/writing-clearly-and-concisely-4/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Docs & Writing
- Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/writing-clearly-and-concisely-4

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# Writing Clearly and Concisely

## Overview

William Strunk Jr.'s *The Elements of Style* (1918) teaches you to write clearly and cut ruthlessly.

**Source**: Internalized from `elements-of-style` plugin (superpowers-marketplace v1.0.0)

**WARNING:** The full reference (`templates/guides/elements-of-style/elements-of-style.html`) 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.**

## Limited Context Strategy

When context is tight:
1. Write your draft using judgment
2. Dispatch a subagent with your draft and the reference guide
3. Have the subagent copyedit and return the revision

## All Rules

### Elementary Rules of Usage (Grammar/Punctuation)
1. Form possessive singular by adding 's
2. Use comma after each term in series except last
3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas
4. Comma before conjunction introducing co-ordinate clause
5. Don't join independent clauses by comma
6. Don't break sentences in two
7. Participial phrase at beginning refers to grammatical subject

### Elementary Principles of Composition
8. One paragraph per topic
9. Begin paragraph with topic sentence
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 — see `templates/guides/elements-of-style/elements-of-style.html`

## Bottom Line

Writing for humans? Read the reference guide and apply the rules. Low on tokens? Dispatch a subagent to copyedit with the guide.

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> Converted and distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io/claim/baekenough) — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.
<!-- tomevault:4.0:skill_md:2026-04-12 -->