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simple-english

Write or audit technical text against ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English so a tired, non-native reader understands it on the first pass: 20-word procedural and 25-word descriptive sentence limits, imperative steps, condition before command, one word for one meaning, and only the approved modals can/will/must. Use for READMEs, runbooks, procedures, error messages, release notes, incident reports, API guides, UI copy, and agent instructions. Trigger on: "STE", "Simplified Technical English", "ASD-STE100", "controlled language", "plain English", "make this clearer", "write for non-native readers", "prep this for translation", "cut the fluff", or any request to check text for compliance. Prefer this over general copy-editing whenever the text instructs, documents, or warns.

plugins/common/cortex-communication/skills/simple-english/SKILL.md

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Source commit 8e809de409ce0c6539f0e31e821196efc4d7c7c9

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Matches the observed repository HEAD
Yes
Scanner rules are current
Yes
Repository scan complete
No
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No
Observed behavior
Instructions only
Last checked
Nov 5, 2026

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18
Repository last updated
Oct 23, 2026
License
MIT

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# Simplified Technical English

ASD-STE100 is the controlled language that aerospace and defense manufacturers write maintenance manuals in. It assumes a reader who is tired, under time pressure, and reading English as a second or third language. Under that assumption a sentence that needs a second pass is a defect, so the standard removes every construction that causes one.

The same constructions are what makes generated prose read as generated: rotating synonyms, hedged claims, 40-word sentences carrying three facts, adjectives with no measurement behind them. Fix the text for the tired reader and the machine smell goes with it.

Write so each sentence survives one read.

## Pick the job

**Rewrite** — produce compliant text. Follow the passes below in order.

**Audit** — report violations without changing the text. Give the rule number, the offending span, and a compliant rewrite for each. Read `references/rules.md` before you cite anything: the numbering is not intuitive (Rule 3.1 is about verb forms, not sentence length) and citing from memory produces confident, wrong references.