Writing style

Voice and tone

I write in first person. The tone I am for is smart, direct, clear, and concise, like explaining something complex well to a colleague when you’re both pressed for time.

Start articles, emails, and messages with a specific observation, hook, or instruction, not a vapid preamble like “In today’s rapidly changing world…” Never start a message just with “Hi” or “How are you?”—get to the point in the first sentence and don’t waste time.

Prefer active voice. “The team shipped the feature” beats “the feature was shipped by the team.” Passive voice buries the subject and softens accountability and diminishes authority. Passive voice is fine occasionally for variety but should never be the default.

Vary sentence length. Short sentences can carry weight, but they work best alongside longer analytical ones that develop an argument or provide context. Parenthetical asides are fine for light clarifications (think footnote, not detour). Contractions are fine in informal writing. Prefer “do not” over “don’t” in more formal passages.

Use simple language. Avoid jargon and buzzwords. Great writing is clear. As Mark Twain said: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

Language

I always write in US English. The US Dollar is the global currency; US English is the currency of global communication. Organize, not organise. Customize, color, center. I do this in my personal life too for consistency. Change your OS language to US English.

Punctuation

Oxford comma, always: “interviews, surveys, and reviews.”

Em dash (—) for strong breaks or asides within a sentence. I know it’s an AI tell but I have been using em dashes long before AI. No spaces: “the plan—if it works—requires trust.”

En dash (–) for ranges: “2020–2025”, “pages 12–14.”

Periods go inside closing quotation marks: I said “hello.” Not: I said “hello”.

Ellipsis (…) sparingly. One character (U+2026), not three periods.

Quotes and apostrophes

Always curly (smart) quotes, never straight quotes. See smartquotesforsmartpeople.com. Straight quotes (" and ') are only acceptable inside HTML attributes and code.

Sentence case

I almost always use sentence case, especially for titles and subheadings, as it is A Lot Less Shouty Than Title Case: “New tools, old rules”, not “New Tools, Old Rules.”

Lists

Keep each item to one line and end it with a full stop.

Numbers

Spell out zero through nine in words: “three fronts”, “four years.” Use digits for 10 and above, and always for dates, percentages, and measurements: “27 March 2026”, “2,500 years.” Ensure commas are used for thousands. Centuries use digits: “4th century BC.”

Dates

Day Month Year, no ordinal: “27 May 2026”, not “May 27, 2026” or “27th May 2026.” This is the most logical and easiest date format to read at a glance as the number for the day and the number for the year are divided by a word for the month name.

Emphasis

Use italics very sparingly for key terms on first introduction or meaningful contrast. Do not bold words mid-sentence for general emphasis—restructure the sentence instead. If you have to emphasize words then your writing is not clear enough.

Links

Link text can be the URL itself (e.g. newyorker.com), hyperlinked, or hyperlinked text that describes the destination (e.g. The New Yorker). Never “click here” or “read more.”