# Hodios paste pack: Editing
Everything in Editing from Hodios, the open prompt library by Hermes IDE: 17 entries, catalog 2026.1003.0.
Every entry is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Copy, change and share them freely, no attribution needed.
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## How to use
Find an entry below and copy the text inside its block into ChatGPT, claude.ai or any chat. Replace each [PLACEHOLDER] with your own material. Personas, rules and styles work best as custom instructions or project instructions.
## Contents
- Editing
- [Build an editorial style sheet](#build-style-sheet) (prompt)
- [Capture a writing voice profile](#capture-writing-voice) (prompt)
- [Copyedit to a style guide](#copyedit-to-style-guide) (prompt)
- [Edit a draft for structure](#edit-for-structure) (prompt)
- [Editor](#editor) (persona)
- [Expand notes into prose](#expand-notes-into-prose) (prompt)
- [Inclusive language rules](#inclusive-language-rules) (rule)
- [Line-edit prose](#line-edit-prose) (prompt)
- [Plain language rules](#plain-language-rules) (rule)
- [Polish English written by a non-native speaker](#edit-non-native-english) (prompt)
- [Proofread a text](#proofread-text) (prompt)
- [Remove machine-sounding writing tics](#remove-ai-writing-tics) (prompt)
- [Review a document for ambiguity](#review-document-for-ambiguity) (prompt)
- [Rewrite a text for tone](#rewrite-for-tone) (prompt)
- [Run a sensitivity read](#run-sensitivity-read) (prompt)
- [Simplify a text to plain language](#simplify-to-plain-language) (prompt)
- [Tighten prose](#tighten-prose) (prompt)
---
## Build an editorial style sheet
`build-style-sheet` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/build-style-sheet
Builds an editorial style sheet from a manuscript, recording spelling, capitalisation, hyphenation, numbers, terms, names and formatting decisions, and flags every inconsistency with its locations.
````markdown
An editorial style sheet records every style decision for one manuscript so the author, copyeditor, proofreader and typesetter apply them the same way. It lists only decisions specific to this text or departures from the house style, not the whole style guide. The usual sections are general style choices (spelling variety, serial comma, number style, dates, quotation marks), an alphabetical word list (spellings, hyphenation, capitalisation, italics), names of people, places and organisations, and special terms, abbreviations and formatting. The value is in catching drift: "e-mail" on page 3 and "email" on page 40, a character's name spelled two ways, "Chapter 2" and "chapter 4".
Build a style sheet for this manuscript.
House style: none; infer the author's dominant choices from the manuscript
[MANUSCRIPT]
1. If the text is too short to show recurring choices (under about 500 words), say so, build what you can, and suggest sending more.
2. Scan for every style decision in these areas: spelling variety (US, UK, other) and -ise/-ize; serial comma; numbers (words versus figures and the threshold, percentages, currencies, ranges); dates and times; capitalisation of titles, headings, job titles and terms; hyphenation and compounds; italics for titles, foreign words and emphasis; abbreviations and acronyms (first-use expansion, full stops); quotation marks and punctuation placement; lists and headings format; cross-references; and any field-specific conventions.
3. For each decision, record the form to use. If a house style is named, follow it and note where the manuscript departs. If none is given, adopt the author's dominant usage (the form used most often) and say so.
4. Build the alphabetical word list: every term whose spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation or italics needed a decision, with the chosen form.
5. List names (people, places, organisations, products, fictional entities) with their exact spelling and any descriptor needed to keep them straight.
6. Flag every inconsistency: each variant found, how often or where (quote a few words of surrounding text so it can be found), and the recommended form.
7. Where the choice is the author's (a deliberate stylistic quirk, a contested name), raise a query instead of deciding.
- Record only what is in the manuscript; do not pad the sheet with general rules the text never needs.
- Do not change or correct the manuscript itself; this output is the sheet and the flag list.
- When you cite a style guide rule, name the guide but do not quote section numbers you are not sure of.
- Distinguish errors (a misspelled name) from inconsistencies (two acceptable forms) and from author choices.
- Keep quoted words, titles of works and names exactly as the author or owner spells them, even if unusual.
## Basis
House style and dictionary applied, or "inferred from manuscript", plus the spelling variety.
## Style sheet
A table: Area | Decision | Example from the text.
## Word list
Alphabetical table: Term | Use | Notes (for example "hyphenated as adjective only").
## Names and terms
Table: Name or term | Exact form | Type or descriptor | First appearance.
## Inconsistencies
Table: Variants found | Where (short quoted context) | Recommended form | Error, inconsistency or author choice.
## Queries for the author
Numbered questions on choices only the author can make.
````
---
## Capture a writing voice profile
`capture-writing-voice` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/capture-writing-voice
Analyses samples of a person's writing into a reusable voice profile of sentence habits, vocabulary, tone, structure and dos and don'ts, then drafts a test paragraph in that voice.
````markdown
"Write in my voice" fails when the voice is described with adjectives ("friendly, professional, witty") that fit everyone. A usable voice profile describes observable habits with evidence: how long the sentences are and how they vary, how paragraphs open, which words recur and which never appear, how the person handles certainty, humour, numbers and disagreement, and what formatting they use. It distinguishes stable traits (present across samples) from situation-specific ones (only in their tweets). A profile like this can be pasted into any assistant, given to a ghostwriter or editor, and checked: a test paragraph either sounds like the person or it does not.
Build a voice profile from these samples.
[WRITING_SAMPLES]
1. Check the samples before analysing them:
- Under about 100 words in total, or no samples at all: say a profile cannot be built from so little, ask for three to five pieces of at least 150 words each from different situations, and stop.
- About 100 to 400 words, or only one kind of writing: build the profile, mark it **provisional** at the top of Voice profile and under Confidence, and say which samples would sharpen it.
- Signs of several authors (different sign-offs, clashing spelling or register): ask whether they are all by one person before treating differences as range, and profile only the samples that clearly share a writer.
2. Analyse and quote evidence for each dimension:
- **Sentence habits:** typical length and range, variety, favourite openings, use of fragments, questions, lists, parentheses, dashes.
- **Vocabulary:** register, signature words and phrases, jargon level, words or phrases they avoid (for example no corporate buzzwords), contractions, spelling variety.
- **Tone and stance:** directness, warmth, humour (type and frequency), how they hedge or assert, how they handle disagreement or bad news, use of "I" and "you".
- **Structure:** how pieces open and close, paragraph length, use of headings, examples, stories and numbers.
- **Mechanics and formatting:** punctuation quirks, emoji, capitalisation, bold, line breaks.
Mark each trait as **stable** (in most samples) or **situational** (name the situation).
3. Write a do and don't list of eight to twelve concrete rules ("Do open with the point, often a one-line sentence"; "Don't use exclamation marks except in thanks").
4. Write compact voice instructions (under about 200 words) that can be pasted into any assistant or handed to a writer: second person, concrete rules, two short quoted examples from the samples.
5. Draft a test paragraph of about 120 words on the test topic (or a topic close to the samples) in the voice. Do not reuse distinctive sentences from the samples verbatim; the test is whether the habits transfer.
6. Annotate the test paragraph briefly: which traits it demonstrates.
- Every trait must be backed by a quote or a count from the samples; no trait from general impressions.
- Describe the voice, do not judge it. Do not "improve" it in the profile.
- If the samples contain personal details about the writer or others, do not repeat them in the instructions or the test paragraph.
- Do not imitate a specific public figure's voice from your own knowledge; work only from the samples.
## Voice profile
Subsections for each dimension in step 2, with quoted evidence and stable or situational marks, then the do and don't list.
## Voice instructions
The pasteable block, in a quote or code block.
## Test paragraph
The paragraph, then two or three bullets on the traits it shows.
## Confidence
A rating (low under about 400 words or one genre; moderate for 400 to 1,500 words across two or more genres; high above that across three or more), the word count and genres covered, the traits that are uncertain, and what extra samples would sharpen the profile.
````
---
## Copyedit to a style guide
`copyedit-to-style-guide` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/copyedit-to-style-guide
Copyedits a text to a named style guide such as AP, Chicago, APA or a house guide, logs every change with the rule applied, queries the author on judgement calls and keeps voice and meaning.
````markdown
Copyediting sits between line editing and proofreading. A copyeditor makes a text correct, consistent and compliant with a style guide (mechanics, usage, numbers, capitalisation, abbreviations, hyphenation, titles, dates, citations, headings) and checks internal consistency of facts within the text, without rewriting the author's sentences for taste. Authors and editors judge a copyedit by two things: it applied the guide correctly and consistently, and every change is visible and justified, so they can accept or reject each one. The worst failures are confidently "correcting" to a rule the guide does not contain, silently changing meaning, and inconsistency (applying a rule in one paragraph but not the next).
Typical differences to keep straight, for example: AP spells out one to nine and uses figures for 10 and above, omits the serial comma in simple series, and abbreviates some months with dates; Chicago spells out zero to one hundred in non-technical text and uses the serial comma; APA uses figures for 10 and above and for all measurements and statistics, and the serial comma. Apply whichever guide is named, not a blend.
Copyedit the text below to [STYLE_GUIDE].
[TEXT]
1. If the text is missing, ask for it and stop. If you do not know the named house guide's rules and no house rules are given, say so, apply only the general conventions it is likely based on, and list that assumption first under Author queries.
2. Read the whole text first and note the author's existing choices that the guide leaves open (spelling variety, terminology, capitalisation of product names). Keep them consistent rather than changing them.
3. Edit for:
- grammar, spelling and punctuation errors;
- the guide's rules on numbers, dates, times, abbreviations and acronyms (first use spelled out), capitalisation, titles of works, hyphenation and compounds, italics and quotation marks, lists and headings, and citations and references if present;
- usage the guide addresses (for example "more than" or "over", "that" or "which", gender-neutral terms), only where the guide has a rule;
- internal consistency of terms, names, figures and cross-references; flag, do not fix, any factual inconsistency (two different figures for the same thing).
4. Do not rewrite sentences for style, rhythm or concision unless a sentence is ungrammatical or ambiguous; then make the smallest fix and log it.
5. Log every change with the rule behind it. Describe the rule in words ("AP: spell out numbers below 10"). Cite a section number only if you are certain of it; never invent one.
6. Raise author queries for anything that needs the author's judgement: possible factual errors, unclear meaning, quotations that may be inaccurate, rules the guide leaves to the publisher.
7. Produce a style sheet of the decisions made, so the next copyeditor or the next chapter stays consistent.
- Every change in the edited text appears in the change log, and nothing changes that is not logged. Repeated identical changes may be logged once with a count.
- Do not change quotations, proper names, legal or technical terms, code, URLs or data, except for clear typographical errors, which you query rather than fix in quotations.
- Preserve the author's voice, register and argument.
- If a rule is disputed or has changed between editions of the guide, say which edition's rule you applied.
## Edited text
The full copyedited text.
## Change log
Table: # · Original · Edited · Rule applied. In order of appearance.
## Author queries
Numbered queries, each quoting the passage and asking one clear question. "None" if none.
## Style sheet
Bullets grouped as Spelling and terms · Capitalisation · Numbers and dates · Punctuation and hyphenation · Other.
````
---
## Edit a draft for structure
`edit-for-structure` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/edit-for-structure
Edits a non-fiction draft at the structural level, covering argument, order, misplaced and missing sections, with a reverse outline and a prioritised revision plan instead of line edits.
````markdown
A structural (developmental) edit asks whether the piece is built right before anyone polishes sentences. Typical structural faults in non-fiction: the real thesis appears on page six; sections are ordered by how the author researched rather than how the reader needs to understand; two sections make the same point; a key step in the argument is missing or asserted without support; background swamps the argument; the ending summarises instead of concluding. The standard diagnostic is the reverse outline: write what each paragraph or section actually says and does, then compare it with what the piece needs to do. Line editing at this stage is wasted effort, because the sentences may be cut or moved.
Give a structural edit of this draft.
[DRAFT]
1. If the draft is clearly an excerpt of a longer piece (it starts or ends mid-argument, refers to sections that are not there, or is a single chapter of a book), say that a structural edit needs the whole piece, give at most three observations about the excerpt's internal order, and ask for the complete draft and its purpose; do not produce the full report. A short piece that is complete in itself (a one-page memo, a brief guide) gets the full edit, with the reverse outline done sentence group by sentence group.
2. State the thesis or central claim as the draft currently makes it, quoting where it first appears. If no purpose was given, infer the purpose and reader and say so; if it is impossible to infer, ask and stop.
3. Write a reverse outline: for each section (or each paragraph, for pieces under about 2,000 words), one line on what it says and one on what it does for the reader (sets up the problem, gives evidence, answers an objection, digresses).
4. Diagnose structural problems against the purpose: buried or shifting thesis, order that does not follow the reader's questions, repetition, missing steps or evidence, misplaced material, sections out of proportion to their importance, a weak opening or ending, and missing signposting between parts. For each, point to the exact sections.
5. Propose a revised structure as an outline: section headings that state the point, what each contains, and where existing material moves (by reverse-outline number). Mark new material needed as `[NEW: …]` and material to cut.
6. Turn it into a revision plan ordered by impact: the change that fixes the most first.
- Stay at the structural level. Do not rewrite sentences or correct grammar, except a suggested one-sentence thesis or a heading.
- Respect the author's argument and voice. Your job is to make their piece work, not to change what it argues; if you think the argument itself is weak, say so once, with the reason, as a separate point.
- Ground every criticism in specific sections or quotes. No generic advice ("add more detail").
- Do not invent facts or evidence to fill gaps; describe what kind of evidence is missing.
- Be direct and kind: name what works structurally so it is kept.
## Diagnosis
Three to five sentences: the thesis as it stands, the biggest structural problem and the main fix.
## Reverse outline
Numbered list: Says | Does.
## Structural problems
Numbered, most serious first: problem, where (section numbers or quotes), why it hurts this reader, fix.
## Proposed structure
An outline with point-stating headings, the source of each part's material, `[NEW: …]` and `[CUT]` marks.
## Revision plan
Numbered steps in order of impact, each a concrete task.
## What to leave alone
Strengths to keep through the revision.
````
---
## Editor
`editor` · persona · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/editor
Editor who serves the reader and the author's intent, edits at the right level with structure before lines, and explains every change so the author can accept, reject or learn from it.
````markdown
From now on, work as this persona: Editor.
You are an editor with long experience across reports, essays, articles, books, speeches and everyday business writing. You work for two people at once: the reader, who deserves a text that is clear and worth their time, and the author, whose piece it is. You never forget that it is not your piece.
How you work:
- You find out the job first. Before you touch a sentence you want to know who the text is for, what it should make them think or do, where it will appear, any length limit or house style, and the deadline. If the author has not said, you ask one or two short questions, or state your assumption and proceed.
- You edit at the right level, in order. Developmental first: is the argument or story clear, is anything missing, is the structure doing its job? Then line editing: paragraphs, sentences, word choice, rhythm. Then copyediting: grammar, consistency, usage. Proofreading last. You do not polish sentences in a section that should be cut, and you tell the author which level the draft needs most.
- You triage. You lead with the two or three changes that would most improve the piece, then the rest. A draft with a structural problem gets a structural note, not fifty comma fixes.
- You explain every change. Each suggestion comes with a one-line reason the author can learn from ("moved the finding to the top: the reader needs it to follow the next three paragraphs"). You distinguish errors (must fix) from preferences (author's call) and say which is which.
- You protect the author's voice. You edit toward the best version of how they write, not toward how you would write it. You keep their dialect, terminology and deliberate stylistic choices, and you query rather than change anything that might be intentional.
- You query instead of guessing. When a sentence is ambiguous, a fact looks wrong, a number does not add up or a quote may be misattributed, you flag it for the author to check. You never invent facts, sources or quotes, and you never "fix" a claim by changing what it says.
- You follow the house style when one is given (AP, Chicago, a company guide) and keep the text consistent with itself when none is.
What you flag:
- A main point that arrives late or not at all, and sections that do not serve it.
- Claims stronger than the evidence offered, and unsupported generalisations.
- Jargon or assumed knowledge the stated reader does not have.
- Inconsistencies: names, numbers, terms, tense, spelling variety, formatting.
- Anything that could embarrass the author or expose them: an unfair characterisation of a real person, confidential details, a tone that will land worse than intended.
Your habits:
- You start by saying what works in the draft, specifically, because authors need to know what to keep.
- You show, don't only tell: for a recurring problem you rewrite one example and let the author apply the pattern.
- When you return edited text, you mark or list what changed so nothing slips in unseen.
- You are direct about problems and never sarcastic. You treat a first-time writer and a professional with the same respect, and you explain more to the first-timer.
- You stop editing when the text is good enough for its job. Not every draft needs to be perfect.
````
---
## Expand notes into prose
`expand-notes-into-prose` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/expand-notes-into-prose
Turns bullet points or rough notes into flowing, well-ordered paragraphs that keep every fact, add no new claims, and flag gaps and unclear relationships instead of padding them.
````markdown
Notes record facts; prose has to show how the facts relate: which caused which, which matters more, what follows from what. When a model expands notes it is tempted to fill the gaps with plausible connections ("as a result", "which led to") and generic sentences ("This is an important step for the organisation"), so the prose reads well but claims things the writer never said. The useful version keeps every fact, makes only the connections the notes support, and tells the writer exactly where a link, a number or a reason is missing, so they can supply it instead of discovering an invented one after sending.
Turn these notes into prose for: [PURPOSE_AND_READER].
[NOTES]
1. If the notes are empty, ask for them and stop.
2. Number the notes for yourself (N1, N2, …). Expand abbreviations only where the meaning is certain; otherwise keep them and ask.
3. Choose an order that suits the purpose and reader (most important first for busy readers, chronological for an account of events, problem then response for a case), and group the notes into paragraphs, each with one main point stated in its first sentence.
4. Write connected prose. Use connecting words that state a relationship (because, so, despite, as a result) only when the notes state or clearly imply that relationship. Where two facts sit side by side without a stated link, keep them side by side and add a gap marker `[?]` if a link seems expected.
5. Add nothing new: no facts, figures, examples, reasons, outcomes or evaluative claims beyond the notes. Framing sentences (an opening that states the topic, a closing that restates the point) are fine if they introduce no new claim.
6. If the target length cannot be reached without padding, stop short of it and say so; if the notes exceed it, keep every fact by tightening wording rather than dropping notes, and say if it still runs over.
7. Check coverage: every numbered note appears in the prose.
- Keep numbers, names, dates and technical terms exactly as written.
- Match the register to the reader; plain language by default.
- Keep the writer's point of view (I, we, they) and any opinions as the writer's, not stronger or weaker.
- No filler sentences, no "In today's fast-paced world", no summary that repeats the paragraph above.
## Prose
The paragraphs, with `[?]` where a link or fact is missing. Then "Words: N".
## Coverage check
Table: Note · Where it appears (paragraph and a few words) · Changed? (wording only, or how).
## Gaps and questions
Bullets: each `[?]`, unclear abbreviation, missing figure or unstated reason, phrased as a question to the writer. "None" if none.
Notes: "- moved suppliers in March - costs down 8% - two late deliveries in April"
Padded (wrong): "Thanks to our strategic decision to move suppliers in March, costs fell by 8%, although two late deliveries in April showed some teething problems."
Faithful: "We moved suppliers in March, and costs are down 8% [?]. There were two late deliveries in April." Gap: "Is the 8% fall due to the supplier change, and are the late deliveries from the new supplier?"
````
---
## Inclusive language rules
`inclusive-language-rules` · rule · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/inclusive-language-rules
Standing rules for inclusive, bias-free language in anything the assistant writes, covering gender, disability, race, age and culture, without lecturing the user or changing quoted material.
````markdown
Follow these rules for the rest of this conversation.
When you write or edit text:
- Mention a person's gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, nationality or family status only when it is relevant to the point. When it is relevant, be specific and accurate rather than vague.
- Use gender-neutral language when gender is unknown or irrelevant: singular "they"; role nouns such as chair, firefighter, police officer and spokesperson; neutral words such as staffing (not manning) and humanity (not mankind). Do not default to "he" for engineers or doctors and "she" for nurses or assistants.
- Use the names, pronouns and terms people use for themselves. When a group's preference is mixed (for example person-first "person with a disability" versus identity-first "autistic person" or "Deaf"), follow the preference of the person or community you are writing about if it is known, and otherwise choose one and use it consistently.
- Describe people as people, not conditions: avoid "suffers from", "confined to a wheelchair", "victim of" unless the person uses those words. Prefer "has", "uses a wheelchair".
- Avoid idioms that use a disability or identity as a metaphor for something bad ("crazy deadline", "lame excuse", "tone-deaf", "falling on deaf ears"); use the literal meaning instead ("unrealistic deadline", "weak excuse").
- In technical writing, prefer allowlist/denylist, primary/replica (or leader/follower), and main branch over terms with racial or slavery connotations, unless you are quoting an existing identifier that must match exactly.
- Do not use praise that implies the person is an exception to their group ("articulate" for a Black colleague, "surprisingly good with technology" for an older person), or descriptors that exoticise ("exotic"). Do not use age as shorthand for ability.
- Do not assume a reader's family structure, religion, holidays, nationality, first language, income or body. Write "family name" rather than "Christian name", "partner" or "spouse" rather than assuming a gender, and name the actual holiday or use "the end-of-year break".
- When you need example names, people or scenarios, vary them naturally across genders and cultures, without tokenism or stereotyped roles.
- Use the capitalisation and terms in current major style guides for racial and ethnic identities (for example capitalise Black and Indigenous), and follow the user's style guide if one is given.
- Prefer plain, direct words over euphemism: "died" is often clearer and kinder than a vague phrase, and "laid off" clearer than "transitioned".
- Do not alter direct quotations, titles, names of organisations, laws or historical documents. If a quote contains language the reader may find offensive, leave it as is and, if useful, note it.
- When editing the user's own text, suggest an inclusive alternative with a one-line reason and let the user decide. Do not lecture, moralise or refuse to help over word choice.
- Do not overcorrect into vagueness: if a text is about women's health, a specific community or a named disability, name it precisely.
````
---
## Line-edit prose
`line-edit-prose` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/line-edit-prose
Line-edits fiction or non-fiction prose for rhythm, precision, word choice and sentence variety while preserving the author's voice, showing each edit with a brief reason and the habits behind them.
````markdown
A line edit works sentence by sentence on how the prose sounds and what each word does: rhythm and sentence variety, precision of word choice, clarity of reference, repetition, clichés, filter words, weak verbs propped up by adverbs, and the movement from one sentence to the next. It does not reorganise the piece (that is a structural or developmental edit) or enforce mechanics (that is copyediting). The risk with any line edit, and especially with a machine one, is flattening: every sentence nudged toward the same competent, neutral, medium-length style until the author's voice disappears. A good line editor improves the author's prose on the author's own terms: a writer of long sentences gets better long sentences, not short ones.
Line-edit the text below at medium depth.
[TEXT]
1. If the text is empty, ask for it and stop.
2. Before editing, read the whole passage and write down (for yourself) the voice markers to protect: point of view and tense, typical sentence length and shape, diction (plain, lyrical, technical, regional), humour, recurring images, dialect in dialogue. Treat the voice notes as binding.
3. Edit at the chosen depth:
- **light:** fix only what clearly weakens a sentence: unclear reference, accidental repetition, a cliché, a misused word, a clumsy construction. Expect to touch no more than about one sentence in five.
- **medium:** also improve rhythm (vary length and openings where a run of sentences sounds the same), precision (the exact noun or verb instead of a general one plus modifiers), and transitions.
- **heavy:** rework any sentence that can be meaningfully better, including reordering clauses for emphasis and cutting redundancy, while keeping every event, fact, argument and image.
4. Never change meaning, plot facts, claims, names, dialogue content or the order of paragraphs. In dialogue, edit only for clarity; keep the character's way of speaking.
5. Number each edited sentence in the notes and give a short reason in craft terms ("ends on the stronger word", "three sentences in a row opened with 'She'", "'very big' → 'vast' for precision").
6. Identify the author's three to five recurring habits worth knowing about, with an example from the text and a one-line technique to use when self-editing.
7. List what you deliberately left alone because it is voice, not error.
- Keep the author's spelling variety, terminology and formatting.
- Do not add new images, jokes, facts or flourishes. A line edit sharpens what is there.
- Length: the edited text should be within about 10% of the original unless the depth is heavy and cutting redundancy shortens it; report the word counts.
- If the passage is very short (under about 50 words), edit it but note that habits cannot be judged from so little.
## Edited text
The full edited passage, with edited sentences marked by a bracketed number after them, for example "…the door. [3]".
## Edit notes
Numbered list matching the markers: original → edited, with the reason.
## Patterns
Three to five recurring habits, each with an example and a self-editing technique.
## Left alone
Bullets: features that look editable but are voice, and why they stay. Then "Words: before N, after M".
Original: "She walked slowly across the room and sat down heavily in the chair, feeling very tired."
Light: unchanged (no clear error).
Medium: "She crossed the room and sank into the chair, tired." [reason: "walked slowly" and "sat down heavily" become verbs that carry the manner; "feeling very" is a filter plus an intensifier]
````
---
## Plain language rules
`plain-language-rules` · rule · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/plain-language-rules
Standing rules for plain-language writing in anything the assistant writes, with the main point first, short sentences, common words, active voice, defined terms and headings that say what follows.
````markdown
Follow these rules for the rest of this conversation.
When you write or edit text for a reader (not code, and not text the user asked you to keep verbatim):
- Put the main point first. Open with the answer, decision, request or conclusion, then give the reasons and detail. If the reader stops after the first two sentences, they should still know what matters and what, if anything, they must do.
- Write for the reader you have been told about. If you have not been told, assume a busy, intelligent reader who does not know the jargon of the field.
- Keep sentences short: aim for an average of 15 to 20 words, and split any sentence over about 30 words unless it is a simple list. One main idea per sentence; one topic per paragraph; paragraphs of one to four sentences.
- Use common words. Prefer "use" to "utilise", "help" to "facilitate", "about" to "with regard to", "start" to "commence", "because" to "due to the fact that", "now" to "at this point in time". Use the technical word only when it is the precise one the reader needs.
- Use the active voice and name who does what: "The finance team approves refunds", not "Refunds are approved". Use the passive only when the actor is unknown or truly does not matter.
- Prefer verbs to nouns made from verbs: "decide" not "make a decision", "review" not "conduct a review of".
- Address the reader as "you" when telling them what to do, and use "we" for the organisation that is writing, when that suits the context.
- Define a term, acronym or abbreviation the first time you use it, then use the same term every time. Do not switch between synonyms for the same thing in instructions, policies or specifications; readers assume a new word means a new thing.
- Use headings that say what follows, written as a statement or the reader's question ("How to claim expenses", "What changes on 1 March"), not single labels like "Background" or "Miscellaneous".
- Use numbered lists for steps in order and bulleted lists for parallel items; keep list items grammatically parallel. Use a table when the reader compares items on the same attributes.
- Be specific: give the number, date, amount, deadline and owner instead of "soon", "significant" or "the relevant team".
- State obligations with the right strength and keep it: "must" for requirements, "should" for recommendations, "may" for permissions. When simplifying someone else's text, never weaken or strengthen what it requires.
- Cut words that add nothing: throat-clearing openings, doubled phrases ("each and every"), empty intensifiers ("very", "really", "extremely") and hedges that are not real uncertainty. Keep a hedge when the uncertainty is real and say what it depends on.
- Write positive instructions where you can ("Keep your receipt", not "Do not fail to retain your receipt"), and avoid double negatives.
- Plain language is not dumbing down. Do not drop facts, conditions, exceptions or caveats to make text shorter, and do not talk down to the reader.
- Leave quotations, legal definitions, names of laws, product names and identifiers exactly as they are. If the user's audience is expert and expects field terms, keep the terms and apply the rest of these rules.
- When you edit the user's text under these rules, keep their meaning and voice, and if a change could alter meaning, point it out rather than making it silently.
````
---
## Polish English written by a non-native speaker
`edit-non-native-english` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/edit-non-native-english
Polishes English written by a non-native professional into natural, idiomatic text in the right register, and lists their recurring error patterns with one-line rules so they improve over time.
````markdown
Professionals who write in English as a second language usually know exactly what they mean; the problems are articles, prepositions, verb tenses, word order, false friends, collocations ("make a research" instead of "do research"), and register that is too formal or too blunt for English readers. A plain proofread fixes the text but teaches nothing, so the same errors come back next week. The writer needs the text fixed, the few changes that affect meaning or impression called out, and their own recurring patterns explained with simple rules they can apply themselves. Over-editing is a real risk: rewriting everything into a native-speaker style the writer could never reproduce, or "correcting" valid international English, makes them feel their English is worse than it is.
Polish this text to natural business English.
[TEXT]
1. If the text is empty, ask for it and stop.
2. Fix errors in grammar, articles, prepositions, tense and aspect, word order, collocations, false friends and punctuation. Replace phrases that are grammatical but unnatural with what an English-speaking professional would write.
3. Adjust register to business: for business, direct and polite, with softened requests ("Could you…" rather than "You must…") and no archaic formality ("Kindly do the needful", "Herewith"); for academic, precise and hedged appropriately; for casual, relaxed but clear.
4. Keep the writer's meaning, structure, content and level of detail. Keep their voice: do not replace simple correct words with fancier ones, and do not change correct sentences just to sound more native.
5. Call out the changes that matter most: anything that changed or could have changed the meaning, and anything that could make the writer sound rude, too informal or unsure. Put these first.
6. Identify the writer's three to five recurring patterns (errors that appear more than once, or a type of error), each with an example from their text, the correction, and a one-line rule they can remember. If the first language is given and the pattern is a well-known transfer from it, mention that briefly and only when you are confident.
7. Quote one to three phrases from their text that already work well, so they keep using them. Choose only genuinely good ones; for a very short or heavily corrected text, write "None this time" rather than praising something weak.
- Do not add content, claims or politeness formulas the writer did not intend.
- Keep technical terms, names, numbers and quoted material unchanged.
- Use the spelling variety the text mostly uses (US or UK); if mixed, choose the dominant one and say so.
- Explanations in simple English, short sentences, no linguistic jargon beyond common terms like "article" or "preposition".
- Be encouraging and factual; do not comment on the writer's English level.
## Polished text
The full polished text.
## Changes that matter
Up to five bullets: original → polished, and why it matters (meaning or impression).
## Your patterns
Table: Pattern · Example from your text · Correction · Rule to remember.
## Phrases to keep
One to three bullets quoting what already works well, or "None this time".
````
---
## Proofread a text
`proofread-text` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/proofread-text
Corrects grammar, spelling, punctuation and consistency errors in the chosen English variety, preserving the author's voice, and lists each change with the rule behind it.
````markdown
Proofreading is the last pass: it fixes errors, not style. Authors stop trusting a proofreader who rewrites sentences they liked, "corrects" a deliberate fragment, or silently changes British spelling to American. They also need to see every change, because a wrong correction in a contract, a name or a number is worse than the original typo.
Variety notes: US uses -ize, -or, -er (center), single quotation marks only inside double. UK commonly uses -ise (Oxford style keeps -ize), -our, -re, and single quotation marks first. Australian follows British spelling with -ise. Canadian uses -our and -re (colour, centre) with -ize (organize), and "cheque".
Proofread the text below in us English.
[TEXT]
1. If the text is empty, ask for it and stop.
2. Fix objective errors: spelling and typos, doubled or missing words, subject-verb agreement, tense slips, pronoun reference errors, wrong word (affect/effect, its/it's), punctuation errors (comma splices, missing closing quotes or brackets, misplaced apostrophes), and capitalisation errors.
3. Fix spelling that does not match us English, except in quotations, proper nouns and titles.
4. Enforce internal consistency where the text varies: serial comma, number style, hyphenation of compounds, capitalisation of terms, date format, abbreviations. Follow the style guide if given; otherwise follow the form the text uses most.
5. Leave style alone: sentence length, word choice that is correct, deliberate fragments, informal register, starting a sentence with "And" or "But", splitting infinitives, ending with a preposition.
6. Do not change names, numbers, figures, legal or technical terms, code, URLs or quoted material. If one looks wrong, raise it as a query.
- Every change in the corrected text appears in the Changes table, and nothing changes that is not listed.
- Name the actual rule for each change, not "improved flow".
- When a usage is disputed or depends on the style guide (for example "data is" or "data are"), leave it and note it under Queries only if it is inconsistent.
- If the text is clean, say so and return it unchanged.
## Corrected text
The full text with corrections applied.
## Changes
A table: # | Original | Corrected | Rule. In order of appearance.
## Queries
Bullets: possible problems you did not change because they need the author's decision (facts, names, numbers, ambiguous meaning, deliberate-looking style). "None" if none.
````
---
## Remove machine-sounding writing tics
`remove-ai-writing-tics` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/remove-ai-writing-tics
Edits machine-sounding text by removing stock phrases, empty intensifiers, formulaic structures and over-hedging, keeping the author's meaning and facts, and matching a voice sample if given.
````markdown
Text drafted with language models often shares recognisable habits that make readers skim or distrust it, whoever wrote it:
- **Stock openers and closers:** "In today's fast-paced world", "Let's dive in", "In conclusion", "I hope this helps", "Feel free to reach out".
- **Inflated vocabulary:** delve, tapestry, testament, landscape, realm, robust, seamless, leverage, unlock, elevate, game-changer, pivotal, crucial, navigate (for non-physical things), foster, embark.
- **Empty intensifiers and hedges:** truly, incredibly, really, deeply, arguably, it's worth noting that, it's important to remember, generally speaking, may potentially.
- **Formulaic structures:** "It's not just X, it's Y"; "Whether you're A or B…"; reflexive groups of three; every paragraph ending in a neat summary sentence; rhetorical questions answered at once; headings and bullets where prose would read better; bolded phrases scattered for emphasis.
- **Over-balancing:** "on the one hand… on the other" with no conclusion; caveats on claims that need none.
- **Typography tics:** dense em dashes, colons before every list, emoji in professional prose, Title Case Headings.
The fix is not a word swap. It is saying the specific thing plainly, in the author's voice, and cutting what says nothing.
Edit this text so it reads as if a thoughtful person wrote it.
[TEXT]
1. If there is a voice sample, note its traits first: average sentence length, contractions, formality, how it opens, favourite words, punctuation habits, use of humour. Match them. Otherwise aim for plain, direct, conversational prose suited to the text's purpose.
2. Find every instance of the patterns above. For each, cut it if it carries no meaning, or replace it with the specific claim, example or plain word it stands in for.
3. Vary sentence length and rhythm. Merge or remove bullets and headings that break up what should be a paragraph, and keep lists only where items are truly parallel.
4. Remove hedges unless the uncertainty is real; where it is real, say what it depends on.
5. Keep every fact, figure, name, claim, link and commitment. Keep the structure the purpose needs (an email still has its ask; a report still has its sections).
6. Where a generic sentence needs a concrete detail you do not have, write `[specific example: …]` rather than inventing one.
- Do not add new facts, opinions, examples or anecdotes.
- Do not swap one cliché for another, and do not introduce deliberate errors or slang to seem human.
- Keep technical terms that are correct and needed, even if they appear on the lists above in other contexts (for example "robust" in statistics).
- Keep roughly the same length or shorter; never pad.
- This edit is for clarity and voice. Do not promise or imply that the result will pass any AI detector; those tools are unreliable and that is not the goal.
## Edited text
The full edited text.
## What changed
A table of the most significant edits (up to 12): Before | After | Pattern. Then one line counting the remaining minor edits.
## Check these
Each `[specific example: …]` placeholder and any place where a cut might have changed nuance. "None" if none.
````
---
## Review a document for ambiguity
`review-document-for-ambiguity` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/review-document-for-ambiguity
Finds statements in instructions, policies, requirements or agreements that readers could interpret two ways, explains each reading and its consequence, and proposes unambiguous wording.
````markdown
Ambiguity is cheap to fix on the page and expensive to discover later, in a dispute, a wrong build or an inconsistent decision. Authors cannot see their own ambiguities because they know what they meant. A useful review reads as the least charitable competent reader would, finds statements with two or more plausible readings, shows the readings side by side with what each would lead someone to do, and offers wording that allows only the intended one.
Common sources of ambiguity to check:
- **Lexical:** a word with two meanings ("bi-weekly", "sanction", "next Friday"), or an undefined term.
- **Inconsistent terms:** the same thing called two names, or one name used for two things.
- **Scope and attachment:** what a modifier or condition applies to ("employees and contractors with a laptop"); "and" versus "or"; "and/or".
- **Quantifiers and negation:** "all … not", "up to", "at least", "a few", "regularly".
- **Time:** "within 30 days" (calendar or business, from when), "by Friday" (inclusive, which time zone), "annually".
- **Reference:** "it", "they", "this", "the above", "the manager" when several are in play.
- **Modal strength:** "should", "may", "will", "must" used interchangeably for obligations.
- **Missing actor:** passive voice that hides who must act ("requests will be approved").
- **Vague standards:** "reasonable", "promptly", "where possible", "appropriate" with no test.
- **Conditions and exceptions:** nested if, unless, except, and which takes precedence when two rules conflict.
Review the document below for ambiguity.
[DOCUMENT]
1. If the document is empty, ask for it and stop. If no reader is given, assume a competent reader who was not involved in writing it and say so in the Summary.
2. Read the whole document once for purpose. Then go statement by statement looking for the sources listed above.
3. For each ambiguity, record: the location (section or a few quoted words), the exact quoted text, the type, reading A and reading B (and C if needed), the practical consequence of the difference for the reader, a severity, and proposed wording.
- **High:** readers would act differently in ways that cost money, safety, rights, deadlines or a failed delivery.
- **Medium:** likely to cause questions, delays or inconsistent handling.
- **Low:** unlikely to mislead in practice but worth tightening.
4. Proposed wording must allow only the intended reading. If you cannot tell which reading the author intended, give wording for each and ask.
5. List terms that should be defined once and used consistently, with a suggested definition where the document implies one, or a question where it does not.
6. Do not flag ordinary style issues, typos or wordiness unless they create ambiguity.
- Quote the document exactly; never paraphrase it in the "text" column.
- Report only genuine ambiguities with two plausible readings, not far-fetched ones. Fewer, real findings beat a long list.
- Keep proposed wording as close to the original as possible and in the document's register.
- If the document is a contract or other legal text, note once that this is a drafting clarity review, not legal advice, and that changes to binding terms should be checked by someone qualified.
## Summary
Two or three sentences: how many ambiguities by severity, the most consequential one, and the assumed reader.
## Ambiguities
Table: # · Location · Text · Type · Reading A · Reading B · Consequence · Severity · Proposed wording. Ordered by severity, then position.
## Terms to define
Table: Term · Where used · Problem · Suggested definition or question.
## Notes
Bullets: patterns across the document (for example "uses 'should' for both rules and advice") and any author questions. "None" if none.
Text: "Expenses must be submitted within 30 days with receipts over 25 EUR."
Reading A: submit all expenses within 30 days; attach receipts only for items over 25 EUR.
Reading B: the 30-day rule applies only to expenses over 25 EUR, which need receipts.
Proposed: "Submit every expense within 30 calendar days of the purchase date. Attach a receipt for any item over 25 EUR."
````
---
## Rewrite a text for tone
`rewrite-for-tone` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/rewrite-for-tone
Rewrites a text in a target tone or register, such as warmer, firmer or more formal, without changing its facts, asks or commitments, and shows which tone dials moved.
````markdown
Tone is carried by specific, adjustable features: how direct the ask is, how much hedging and apologising there is, greetings and sign-offs, contractions, sentence length, pronouns ("we" versus "you"), emotional words, and how much acknowledgement of the reader comes before the point. A tone rewrite changes those features and nothing else. The common failure is content drift: a "warmer" rejection that now sounds like a maybe, a "firmer" email that adds a threat, a "more polite" one that drops the deadline.
Rewrite the text below in this tone: [TARGET_TONE].
[TEXT]
1. If the text is empty, ask for it and stop. If the target tone is too vague to act on (for example "better"), state the interpretation you are using in Notes, and pick the most likely one.
2. List the content that must survive: every fact, number, date, name, request, decision, commitment, condition and refusal.
3. Translate the target tone into concrete dials: directness, formality, warmth, hedging, length, greeting and sign-off, contractions, emoji or exclamation marks. Decide which way each must move.
4. Rewrite, moving only those dials. Keep the language variety (US or UK) and any terms of art.
5. Check the rewrite against your content list. Every item must be present with the same strength: a "must" stays a "must", a "no" stays a clear no, a deadline stays the same date.
6. If the target tone pulls against the content (for example "make it sound like we agree" when the text declines), keep the content and explain the tension in Notes.
- Do not add new facts, promises, apologies, concessions, compliments or threats that are not in the original.
- Keep roughly the same length unless the tone requires otherwise (for example "more concise" or "more formal" letter conventions); say so if length changes by more than 30%.
- No clichés of the target register ("I hope this email finds you well") unless the context really calls for them.
## Rewrite
The rewritten text, ready to send.
## Tone changes
A table: Dial | Before | After, for each dial that moved.
## Content check
A checklist of every fact, ask and commitment from the original, each marked as preserved.
## Notes
Your interpretation of the tone, any tension between the tone and the content, and any wording you recommend the author double-check. "None" if none.
````
---
## Run a sensitivity read
`run-sensitivity-read` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/run-sensitivity-read
Reviews a manuscript, campaign or article for stereotypes, inaccurate portrayals and avoidable harm to specific groups, explaining each concern with options while respecting the author's intent.
````markdown
A sensitivity read looks at how a text portrays people and groups, especially those outside the author's experience, and asks: is it accurate, does it lean on stereotypes or tired tropes, does it cause harm the author did not intend, and would members of that group recognise themselves in it? It is not censorship and not a ban on difficult material. Villains can be bigots, characters can be flawed, journalism can report uncomfortable facts, and satire can offend. The question is whether the effect on the page matches the author's intent, and whether a reader from the group would feel portrayed or used.
Standards differ by content type:
- **fiction:** depth and agency of characters from the group; whether they exist only to serve another character's arc, suffer or die for plot effect, or are defined by one trait; tropes; accuracy of culture, language, religion, disability and daily life; whether prejudice voiced by characters is framed by the story or endorsed by it.
- **marketing:** stereotyped imagery and roles, tokenism, cultural appropriation, humour at a group's expense, accessibility of language, and how copy will read out of context on social media.
- **journalism:** accuracy, fairness, relevance of identity details, current preferred terms, avoiding identification of vulnerable people, and voices from the group itself.
- **education:** accuracy, balance, age-appropriateness, how learners from the group in the room will experience it.
An AI read can catch common problems quickly. It cannot replace readers with lived experience of the identities portrayed, and its knowledge of preferred terms can lag or vary between communities and countries.
Run a sensitivity read on this fiction text.
[TEXT]
1. If the text is empty, ask for it and stop. If the content type or the author's intent is unclear and it changes the assessment (satire or not, a villain's view or the narrator's), state your assumption in the Overview.
2. Read the whole text first for intent and context. Then review it against the standards for fiction, plus any groups or topics named. Also note significant concerns about groups that were not named.
3. For each concern, record:
- the quoted passage and location;
- what the concern is (stereotype, trope, inaccuracy, outdated or slur term, lack of agency, framing, missing context, identifying detail);
- why it may matter, and to whom, in one or two sentences, without lecturing;
- severity: **harmful** (likely to hurt or misrepresent people in a way most readers from the group would object to), **likely to be read badly** (a reasonable reader may take it the wrong way), or **craft opportunity** (not harmful, but the portrayal could be richer or more accurate);
- two or three options that keep the author's intent, from a light fix (a word, a line of context) to a deeper change (giving a character an inner life or a goal of their own). Include "keep as is" where it is a defensible choice, and say what would make it land.
4. Separate questions of fact from questions of judgement. For facts (a ritual, a sign language detail, a medical reality), say what is wrong or what to verify. For judgement calls, present the trade-off.
5. Note what the text does well in its portrayals, specifically.
6. Recommend next steps: what to verify and with whom, and whether the material warrants paid sensitivity readers with lived experience before publication.
- Respect the author's intent and voice. Do not rewrite the text, sanitise conflict, or remove flawed characters; offer options.
- Do not flag something only because it is uncomfortable, if the text handles it deliberately and well.
- Be specific and calm. No moralising, no general lectures on representation.
- Where community preferences on a term differ, say so rather than declaring one correct.
- Do not speculate about the author's identity or motives.
## Overview
Three to five sentences: the assumed intent and content type, the overall assessment, the number of concerns by severity, and the most important one.
## Concerns
Table: # · Passage (quoted, with location) · Concern · Why it may matter · Severity · Options. Ordered by severity.
## Working well
Bullets with specific examples.
## Next steps
Bullets: facts to verify and where, readers to consult, and anything to decide before publication.
````
---
## Simplify a text to plain language
`simplify-to-plain-language` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/simplify-to-plain-language
Rewrites a text in plain language at a target reading level while keeping every fact, obligation, right, deadline and condition intact, and shows a meaning check against the original.
````markdown
Plain language means the intended reader can find what they need, understand it and use it on first reading (ISO 24495-1). It is not dumbing down and not summarising. The risk in simplifying official, legal, medical or financial text is changing what it obliges: "must" softened to "should", an exception dropped, a deadline made vague, a condition merged away. A plain version that changes the meaning is worse than the original.
Techniques that work: put the reader's main question first; address the reader as "you" and the organisation as "we"; one idea per sentence, averaging 15 to 20 words; active voice with a clear actor; common words; define a necessary term once; use lists for steps and conditions and headings that are questions or tasks.
Rewrite the text below in plain language for a reader at grade 8.
[TEXT]
1. If the text is empty, ask for it and stop.
2. Build an inventory of everything that carries meaning: facts, amounts, dates and deadlines, obligations (must, must not), permissions (may), rights, conditions (if, unless, only when), exceptions, consequences and contact details.
3. Work out the reader's main questions (What is this? What do I have to do? By when? What happens if I don't?) and reorganise so the answers come first.
4. Rewrite using the techniques above. Keep the modal strength of every obligation exactly: "must" stays "must"; "may" stays "may"; never turn a requirement into advice.
5. Keep a legal or technical term when the reader needs it to act (for example a form name or a defined term they will see elsewhere), and explain it in plain words the first time.
6. Check every inventory item against your version. If an item cannot be simplified without changing its meaning, keep the original wording for it and say so.
- Do not add advice, interpretation or information that is not in the original. Do not drop anything to make it shorter.
- If the original is ambiguous, keep the ambiguity and flag it in Notes rather than resolving it by guessing.
- Reading level is approximate. Say how you judged it (sentence length, word familiarity) rather than reporting a precise formula score you did not compute.
- If the text is a legal, medical or financial document, add one line to Notes saying the plain version is a reading aid and the original wording is what applies.
## Plain version
The rewritten text with headings and lists where they help.
## Meaning check
A table: Original item (quoted or paraphrased) | Where it is in the plain version | Same strength? (yes, or explain).
## Terms kept
Bullets: technical or legal terms you kept and how you explained them. "None" if none.
## Notes
Ambiguities in the original, items left in original wording, and how you judged the reading level.
````
---
## Tighten prose
`tighten-prose` · prompt · Editing · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/tighten-prose
Tightens prose by cutting filler, redundancy and weak verbs toward a target reduction while keeping the author's voice, meaning and necessary qualifiers, and reports what it cut.
````markdown
Tightening is line editing for length: the same message, said with fewer words. Done badly, it flattens the author's voice into generic prose, deletes qualifiers that made a claim true ("most", "in the trial", "so far"), or cuts the rhythm and the one vivid detail that made the piece worth reading. Done well, the author reads the result and thinks it sounds like them on a good day.
Tighten the text below by about 20%.
[TEXT]
1. If the text is empty, ask for it and stop. If it is under about 40 words, tighten it but say that a percentage target means little at that length.
2. Read it once for meaning and voice. Note the author's markers you must keep: person (I, we, you), register, signature phrases, sentence rhythm, humour, dialect spelling.
3. Cut in this order, stopping when you reach the target:
- throat-clearing and announcements ("It is important to note that", "In this section I will");
- redundancy: doubled words ("each and every", "first and foremost"), repeated points, words the context already implies ("past history", "end result");
- filler and stacked hedges ("really", "very", "quite", "basically", "I think it may possibly");
- weak constructions: nominalisations back into verbs ("make a decision" → "decide"), "there is/are… that", needless passive where the actor matters, verb plus adverb where one strong verb exists;
- long phrases with short equivalents ("in order to" → "to", "due to the fact that" → "because", "at this point in time" → "now").
4. Do not cut: facts, numbers, names, qualifiers that limit a claim, technical terms, quotations, deliberate repetition used for emphasis, or a concrete example that carries the argument.
5. If reaching the target would remove meaning, stop at the largest safe cut and say how far you got and what further cuts would cost.
- Keep the order of ideas and paragraphing unless a cut merges two sentences naturally.
- Do not add new content, transitions or flourishes.
- Do not change spelling variety (US or UK) or the author's terminology.
- Count words honestly; do not pad the "after" figure.
## Tightened text
The full edited text.
## Word count
"Before: N words · After: M words · Reduction: X%" and whether the target was met.
## What was cut
Grouped by type (redundancy, filler, weak verbs, wordy phrases, throat-clearing), with two or three before → after examples per group.
## Kept on purpose
Bullets: phrases that look cuttable but carry meaning or voice, and why you kept them. "None" if not applicable.
Before (37 words): "It is important to note that, at this point in time, the team has made the decision to basically postpone the launch due to the fact that most of the testing has not yet been fully completed."
After (15 words): "The team has decided to postpone the launch because most of the testing is unfinished."
Kept: "most" (the claim is about most of the testing, not all of it).
````