Writing Clearly and Concisely
Strunk's Elements of Style rules applied to docs, emails, reports and UI text.
Community, verifiedby Jesse VincentChecked October 18, 2026
Jesse Vincent's packaging of Strunk's classic 1918 style guide as a skill. Claude applies the rules of usage and composition whenever it writes prose that people will read.
Who it is for
- Writers
- Developers writing docs
- Students
- Professionals
Prompts to try
Once the skill is installed, ask for the result in plain words. Claude picks the skill up on its own.
Tighten this report using clear and concise writing rulesRewrite these error messages so they're shorter and clearerEdit my cover letter following The Elements of StyleHow to install it
In Claude Code
/plugin marketplace add obra/the-elements-of-style/plugin install elements-of-style@elements-of-style-dev
In Claude.ai
Zip the skill folder and upload it under Customize > Skills > + > Create skill > Upload a skill.
Good to know
The full reference text costs about 12,000 tokens when loaded.
Unlock the install steps
Free. Leave your email once to open the install steps for all 149 skills, and get the best new skills each month.
How we checked it
Confirmed SKILL.md at skills/writing-clearly-and-concisely/SKILL.md in obra/the-elements-of-style via the GitHub API; skill folder last changed 2025-10-18, repo has 600 stars and was pushed 2026-08-12; the skill file dates from October 2025 but the repo was updated in August 2026.
Source: github.com/obra/the-elements-of-style/tree/main/skills/writing-clearly-and-concisely