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Complete collection of AI agent skills including: - Frontend Development (Vue, React, Next.js, Three.js) - Backend Development (NestJS, FastAPI, Node.js) - Mobile Development (React Native, Expo) - Testing (E2E, frontend, webapp) - DevOps (GitHub Actions, CI/CD) - Marketing (SEO, copywriting, analytics) - Security (binary analysis, vulnerability scanning) - And many more... Synchronized from: https://skills.sh/ Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
94 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
94 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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name: writing-clearly-and-concisely
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description: Use when writing prose humans will read—documentation, commit messages, error messages, explanations, reports, or UI text. Applies Strunk's timeless rules for clearer, stronger, more professional writing.
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---
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# Writing Clearly and Concisely
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## Overview
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Write with clarity and force. This skill covers what to do (Strunk) and what not to do (AI patterns).
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## When to Use This Skill
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Use this skill whenever you write prose for humans:
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- Documentation, README files, technical explanations
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- Commit messages, pull request descriptions
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- Error messages, UI copy, help text, comments
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- Reports, summaries, or any explanation
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- Editing to improve clarity
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**If you're writing sentences for a human to read, use this skill.**
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## Limited Context Strategy
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When context is tight:
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1. Write your draft using judgment
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2. Dispatch a subagent with your draft and the relevant section file
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3. Have the subagent copyedit and return the revision
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Loading a single section (~1,000-4,500 tokens) instead of everything saves significant context.
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## Elements of Style
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William Strunk Jr.'s *The Elements of Style* (1918) teaches you to write clearly and cut ruthlessly.
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### Rules
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**Elementary Rules of Usage (Grammar/Punctuation)**:
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1. Form possessive singular by adding 's
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2. Use comma after each term in series except last
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3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas
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4. Comma before conjunction introducing co-ordinate clause
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5. Don't join independent clauses by comma
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6. Don't break sentences in two
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7. Participial phrase at beginning refers to grammatical subject
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**Elementary Principles of Composition**:
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8. One paragraph per topic
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9. Begin paragraph with topic sentence
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10. **Use active voice**
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11. **Put statements in positive form**
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12. **Use definite, specific, concrete language**
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13. **Omit needless words**
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14. Avoid succession of loose sentences
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15. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form
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16. **Keep related words together**
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17. Keep to one tense in summaries
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18. **Place emphatic words at end of sentence**
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### Reference Files
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The rules above are summarized from Strunk's original text. For complete explanations with examples:
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| Section | File | ~Tokens |
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|---------|------|---------|
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| Grammar, punctuation, comma rules | `02-elementary-rules-of-usage.md` | 2,500 |
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| Paragraph structure, active voice, concision | `03-elementary-principles-of-composition.md` | 4,500 |
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| Headings, quotations, formatting | `04-a-few-matters-of-form.md` | 1,000 |
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| Word choice, common errors | `05-words-and-expressions-commonly-misused.md` | 4,000 |
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**Most tasks need only `03-elementary-principles-of-composition.md`** — it covers active voice, positive form, concrete language, and omitting needless words.
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## AI Writing Patterns to Avoid
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LLMs regress to statistical means, producing generic, puffy prose. Avoid:
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- **Puffery:** pivotal, crucial, vital, testament, enduring legacy
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- **Empty "-ing" phrases:** ensuring reliability, showcasing features, highlighting capabilities
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- **Promotional adjectives:** groundbreaking, seamless, robust, cutting-edge
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- **Overused AI vocabulary:** delve, leverage, multifaceted, foster, realm, tapestry
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- **Formatting overuse:** excessive bullets, emoji decorations, bold on every other word
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Be specific, not grandiose. Say what it actually does.
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For comprehensive research on why these patterns occur, see `signs-of-ai-writing.md`. Wikipedia editors developed this guide to detect AI-generated submissions — their patterns are well-documented and field-tested.
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## Bottom Line
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Writing for humans? Load the relevant section from `elements-of-style/` and apply the rules. For most tasks, `03-elementary-principles-of-composition.md` covers what matters most.
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