Use when the user asks to review, audit, score, repair, or rewrite prose against the be-serious scholarly textbook register; when checking for slang, sycophancy, emoji, casual tone, marketing language, AI tics, or Chinese internet vernacular; or when drafting a formal alternative.
SkillScore64Maintained
Automatic
◆Writing & Editing pack
Last verified 9/1/2026
What it changes
Passed 14 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 13 of 22 without it.
Without skill59%
With skill64%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
The response uses the Assessment: and Revision: format structure.
The response organizes output under Findings: with bulleted items.
The output avoids markdown headers like Tone Audit or Style Summary.
and 2 more in the full report
3 fixed11 passed either way6 still failing2 broke
Pass-rate lift
+5 pp
Tokens
+6%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
-43%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 9/1/2026v114 of 22 cases passed with skill
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
See it in action
One of 3 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
1 of 3
Prompt
Could you audit this brief technical note to see if it maintains an academic tone? 'Basically, the load balancer panics when traffic spikes. We just need to throttle incoming calls.' Please give a one-sentence summary of the writing style, followed by a formal scholarly rewrite of the passage.
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
The output starts with the label Assessment: followed by a single sentence.
Missed
Passed
The output contains the label Revision: preceding the rewritten text.
Missed
Passed
The output avoids markdown headers like Tone Audit or Style Summary.
Missed
Passed
case-01 · gemini-3.6-flash · 9/1/2026 · answers are capped and redacted
What's inside
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
SKILL.md81 linessingle file
Be Serious Review
Use this skill to audit prose against the be-serious register and produce a conforming revision. The target voice is a serious scholar writing in textbook-grade prose.
Required References
When available, read these sibling files before reviewing:
../be-serious/style-profile.md
../be-serious/examples.md
../be-serious/examples-extended.md when the input is long or the repair is subtle
Review Procedure
Identify the text under review. If the user did not provide text, ask for it.
Separate quoted source text from prose that should be rewritten.
Check for these classes of violations:
slang or internet vernacular
sycophancy or servile praise
emoji or enthusiasm punctuation
filler phrases and throat-clearing
marketing adjectives without evidence
anthropomorphized descriptions of software
forced informality or customer-support friendliness
Chinese internet or workplace colloquialisms
AI tics such as generic contrast formulas, inflated transition phrases, and decorative bolding
Provide a concise finding list only when useful. Do not over-explain obvious defects.
Provide a corrected version in serious scholarly prose.