AI-generated writing often sounds polished in the wrong way.
It explains what it is about before getting to the point. It adds a summary after the conclusion. It reaches for words such as “utilise” and “commence” when “use” and “start” would do. Every paragraph arrives with the same careful rhythm.
The humanize skill is a small set of instructions for fixing that. It lives at https://github.com/krake747/skills/humanize/SKILL.md and applies whenever I ask an agent to write or edit prose.
Good humanization removes language that performs importance while preserving meaning and voice.
Five passes
Strip
Remove filler, throat-clearing, chatbot courtesy, self-reference, and unnecessary decoration.
Instead of:
In this piece, we will take a look at why this matters.
Write:
This matters because…
The first sentence talks about the writing. The second talks about the subject.
Swap
Replace inflated words with their plain equivalents.
The skill gives examples such as:
commencebecomesstartascertainbecomesfind outadditionallybecomesalsonumerousbecomesmany
Formal vocabulary is sometimes the right choice. Question words that add status but no meaning.
Rebuild
Some sentences sound artificial because of their shape, not their vocabulary.
The skill calls out reversal frames such as “It is not X, it is Y”, forced lists of three, fake ranges, self-interview questions, and dense clauses that make the reader backtrack.
State the point. Use the real number of items. Split a sentence when it contains too many ideas.
Shape
Human prose has rhythm. Five sentences of similar length, each beginning with “However” or “Moreover”, can sound assembled even when every sentence is grammatical.
Vary sentence lengths, strengthen endings, and begin paragraphs with their own claims rather than repeated cue words.
Short sentences help.
Then a longer one can take its time when the idea needs room.
Guard
The final pass protects meaning.
Numbers, names, dates, quotes, units, negations, domain terms, and meaningful hedges must survive. Code and quoted examples are exempt. A phrase such as “Use pnpm, not npm” is not inflated language. It is an instruction.
Tension matters too. A serious ending is not automatically a sermon. If the final line carries the conflict or the important fact, it should stay.
The smallest useful edit
The skill is deliberately conservative. Fix the span, not the paragraph. If one sentence is bloated, change that sentence. If nothing is broken, change nothing.
That matters because humanising prose can easily become another kind of performance. A text can be stripped so aggressively that it loses personality, precision, or the writer’s actual voice.
Human writing also needs voice.
Have a position. Name the concrete thing. Read the sentence aloud. Vary the rhythm. Say “I” when it fits. Leave a little mess.
Perfect structure is its own tell.
What it is not
It does not turn every piece of writing into casual conversation, remove every formal word, flatten technical language, rewrite a story’s structure, or invent a stronger argument.
It fixes sentences, not stories.
The skill leaves the meaning alone and keeps the language from getting in its way.
Appendix: Why plain English works
English has Germanic and Latinate vocabulary because of its history. That gives us pairs such as ask and question, help and assist, and begin and commence.
These words are not always exact synonyms. Germanic words often feel shorter, more familiar, and more concrete. French and Latinate words can feel more formal, abstract, or institutional.
Germanic words are not automatically better than Latinate ones. Use the clearest, most precise word. When a Latinate word adds no useful meaning, a shorter and more familiar word will often help.
Humanising prose means choosing the word that says exactly what the writer means.
