---
name: jayrha/proofreader
source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/jayrha-proofreader@1/SKILL.md
source_sha256: 757deef89229
---

# Proofreader

## Overview

This skill performs careful proofreading and copyediting of prose. It fixes objective errors (grammar, spelling, punctuation, agreement) and improves clarity, concision, and stylistic consistency — **without changing the author's meaning, voice, tone, or intent**.

Keywords: proofread, copyedit, grammar check, clarity, concision, tighten, polish, style consistency, line edit, readability.

Use it for emails, essays, articles, blog posts, documentation, reports, cover letters, academic writing, and marketing copy. Do **not** use it to rewrite content from scratch, change the argument, fabricate facts, or alter the author's distinctive style.

## The Cardinal Rule

**Preserve meaning.** Every edit must keep the author's intended message intact. When an edit would shift meaning, emphasis, register, or voice, flag it as a *suggestion* rather than applying it silently. If a sentence is ambiguous, do not guess — ask or annotate both readings.

## Workflow

Follow these steps in order. Do a separate pass for each level rather than fixing everything in one chaotic sweep.

1. **Clarify scope.** Determine the register and goal: who is the audience, what is the medium (formal email vs. casual blog), and which English variant applies (US/UK/AU/CA). If unknown, default to US English and the tone already present in the text, and note the assumption.

2. **Pass 1 — Correctness.** Fix unambiguous errors: spelling, typos, subject–verb agreement, verb tense, pronoun agreement, articles, prepositions, and punctuation (commas, apostrophes, semicolons, hyphens vs. en/em dashes). These are non-negotiable and applied directly. See `references/grammar-rules.md`.

3. **Pass 2 — Clarity.** Resolve ambiguity, dangling/misplaced modifiers, unclear pronoun references, faulty parallelism, and awkward construction. Convert needless passive voice to active **only when it does not change emphasis**. Break up overlong run-on sentences.

4. **Pass 3 — Concision.** Cut redundancies, filler, and wordy phrases without losing nuance. Replace bloated phrases with tight equivalents (see `references/concision-cheatsheet.md`). Never cut so aggressively that meaning or politeness is lost.

5. **Pass 4 — Consistency.** Enforce one consistent style throughout: spelling variant, serial (Oxford) comma usage, capitalization, hyphenation, number formatting, date format, quotation style, and terminology. Match whatever the author already does most often unless it is wrong. See `references/style-consistency.md`.

6. **Deliver.** Return the corrected text first. Then provide a concise change log grouped by category, distinguishing **applied fixes** (objective) from **suggestions** (judgment calls the author should approve). Use the format in `templates/edit-report.md`.

## Decision Framework: Fix vs. Suggest

| Situation | Action |
|-----------|--------|
| Spelling, typo, agreement, clear punctuation error | **Fix silently** |
| Wordiness, redundancy, obvious filler | **Fix**, note in log |
| Passive→active that keeps emphasis | **Fix**, note in log |
| Passive→active that shifts emphasis/blame | **Suggest** |
| Tone/word choice that affects voice | **Suggest** |
| Reordering for flow that changes emphasis | **Suggest** |
| Ambiguous meaning (two valid readings) | **Annotate** — do not guess |
| Possible factual error or contradiction | **Flag** — never silently "correct" facts |
| Stylistic preference with no clear rule | **Leave**, optionally mention |

## Heuristics

- **Read aloud** mentally: if you stumble, the reader will too.
- **One idea per sentence** for clarity; combine only related ideas.
- **Strong verbs over nominalizations**: "decide" beats "make a decision."
- **Cut "that," "very," "really," "just," "in order to"** when they add nothing.
- **Prefer the shorter word** when meaning is identical (use > utilize).
- **Keep the author's idioms and personality** — polished, not sanitized.
- **Don't over-edit.** If a sentence is correct and clear, leave it alone. Restraint is a feature.

## Best Practices

- Edit in passes; do not mix correctness with style judgments.
- Always separate objective fixes from subjective suggestions in the report.
- Match the existing dominant style instead of imposing your own.
- Preserve formatting, markdown, code blocks, and intentional line breaks.
- Quote the original snippet alongside each suggestion so the author can compare.
- When unsure whether something is intentional (e.g., a sentence fragment for effect), ask or flag rather than "fixing" it.

## Common Pitfalls

- **Changing meaning** while "improving" a sentence — the worst failure.
- **Flattening voice** into generic corporate prose.
- **Over-deleting** until nuance, hedging, or politeness disappears.
- **Inconsistent fixes** (correcting "color" in one place, leaving "colour" elsewhere).
- **"Correcting" correct grammar** based on myths (splitting infinitives, ending with prepositions, starting with "And").
- **Editing code, names, quotes, or citations** that must stay verbatim.
- **Hypercorrection**: "between you and I," "whom" where "who" is right.

See `references/grammar-rules.md`, `references/concision-cheatsheet.md`, and `references/style-consistency.md` for detailed reference material. Use `scripts/proof_check.py` for a quick automated first-pass scan of common mechanical issues. Use `templates/edit-report.md` for the deliverable format and `examples/sample-edit.md` for a full worked example.