Write documents in a natural, human style. Use when writing essays, papers, documentation, reports, articles, or any prose content. Avoids common AI writing patterns.
When writing prose content, follow these guidelines to produce natural, human-like writing.
Different Claude models have different writing quirks:
| Pattern | Opus 4.5 | Sonnet 4 | Sonnet 3.7 | Haiku 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Em dash overuse | 16.8x | 0.9x | 0.8x | 0.0x |
| "robust" | 3.1x | 7.7x | 6.5x | 43.2x |
| "comprehensive" | 24.4x | 37.9x | 30.1x | 39.5x |
| "nuanced" | 17.0x | 56.1x | high | 0x |
| "paradigm" | 15.1x | 37.4x | 24.0x | 7.5x |
Values show ratio vs human baseline. Bold = worst offender.
Key takeaway: Em dash overuse is primarily an Opus 4.5 issue. Other models have different word preferences to watch.
Avoid overusing these punctuation marks:
| Avoid | Use Instead | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Em dash (—) | Commas, periods, or parentheses | Mainly Opus 4.5 issue (16.8x human) |
| Semicolons | Two separate sentences | Opus 4.5 uses 3x human rate |
| Colons for lists | Integrate into prose | All models use 2-5x human rate |
Replace these AI-favored words with simpler alternatives:
| Avoid | Use Instead |
|---|---|
| comprehensive | complete, full, thorough |
| utilize | use |
| leverage | use, apply |
| facilitate | help, enable |
| robust | strong, solid |
| nuanced | subtle, detailed |
| paradigm | model, approach |
| multifaceted | complex, varied |
| iterative | repeated, step-by-step |
| delve | explore, examine, look at |
| tapestry | mix, combination |
| myriad | many, numerous |
| plethora | many, lots of |
| fostering | building, encouraging |
| underscores | shows, highlights |
| realm | area, field |
| landscape | field, situation |
| crucial | important, key |
| pivotal | important, central |
| noteworthy | notable, worth mentioning |
| intricate | complex, detailed |
These phrases strongly signal AI writing:
| Avoid | Use Instead |
|---|---|
| in essence | basically, or delete entirely |
| fundamentally | basically, or delete entirely |
| essentially | basically, or delete entirely |
| it's important to note | delete entirely |
| it's worth noting | delete entirely |
| it should be noted | delete entirely |
| in order to | to |
| due to the fact that | because |
| at the end of the day | ultimately, or delete |
| that being said | but, however |
| in today's world | now, today |
| in the realm of | in |
| when it comes to | for, regarding |
| serves as a | is a |
| plays a crucial role | matters, is important |
Don't begin sentences with these formulaic patterns (from analysis):
| Avoid | Ratio vs Human |
|---|---|
| "This document/guide/article..." | 623x |
| "Comprehensive..." | 680x |
| "Introduction..." | 58x |
| "Let's..." | high |
| "In this..." | high |
Also avoid:
AI overuses these qualifying words. Use sparingly:
| Word | AI Overuse Ratio |
|---|---|
| typically | 9.6x |
| often | 4.9x |
| sometimes | 4.2x |
| potentially | 3.4x |
| usually | 3.4x |
| rather | 3.3x |
Be more direct. Instead of "This typically works well," write "This works well."
AI uses FEWER transition words than humans, not more:
Only "conversely" (50x) and "nevertheless" (8x) are AI-overused. "However" is actually more common in human writing (0.52 vs 0.08 per 100 sentences).
Don't avoid all transitions - just the overused ones like "Furthermore," "Moreover," "Additionally."
AI fragments text into many short paragraphs (avg 16 words). Human writing uses longer, developed paragraphs.
AI alternates between very short and very long sentences. Human writing clusters around medium length.
AI overuses bullet points (9.5 items/doc vs near zero for humans).
AI uses LESS passive voice (4.7%) than humans (14.9%). Don't over-correct.
Human writing tends to:
Before each paragraph, ask yourself:
