writing-stylelisted

# Writing standard Applies to documentation, chat replies and any prose produced. Draws on official/administrative writing standards and plain-language guidance: the text must be understood on first reading, convey the most with the fewest words, and not depend on who wrote it. The rules are deliberately short; the final review is mandatory. ## Before writing - Identify the reader: what they already know, what they will do with the text. Write for the reader, not for the writer. - Identify the goal: inform, instruct, record, or support a decision. Format follows goal. - State the main message in one sentence before drafting. It opens the text. ## 1. Clarity - Direct order: subject, verb, object. Invert only for a real gain. - The common word over the rare one. Technical terms only when needed, and defined on first use. - No ornate phrasing, archaisms, in-house jargon, or foreign words that have a plain equivalent. - Short sentences, one main idea each. A sentence with three commas or more becomes two. - No ambiguity: every pronoun and every reference has one unmistakable antecedent. - Restrained adjectives: an adjective only when it adds verifiable information. - Prefer the positive form to the negative. Avoid double negatives. ## 2. Concision - Conclusion first. The result or the answer opens the text; context comes after, only what is needed to act. - Cut useless words, redundancy, and passages that add nothing. Concision is not terseness; it is removing excess. - Cu