1---
2name: humanize
3description: Transforms polished, AI-generated, or overly formal writing into natural, human-sounding prose. Removes mechanical patterns typical of LLM output — fluffy emphasis, canned phrasing, excessive parallelism, and forced structure. Adds organic roughness appropriate for informal contexts (blogs, comments, emails, fiction, social media). Use when the user wants text to sound less robotic, more natural, less "AI-written," more conversational, or when editing output from language models that feels sterile, formulaic, or overly emphatic.
4license: LicenseRef-MutuaL-1.2
5metadata:
6 author: Amolith <amolith@secluded.site>
7---
8
9# Humanizing Text: Quick Start
10
11The goal is not to make text "worse" but to make it *believably human*. Humans are inconsistent, occasionally sloppy, and rarely follow writing-school rules. LLMs are the opposite. Invert LLM defaults.
12
13## Step 1: Strip the AI polish
14
15Remove or replace these dead giveaways before anything else:
16
17**Overwrought significance phrases:**
18- "stands as a testament to" → "is" or "shows" or just delete
19- "a pivotal moment in" → "when" or "this was"
20- "marking a shift toward" → "then" or "after that"
21- "underscoring its importance" → delete entirely
22- "an enduring legacy of" → "people still remember" or delete
23- "in the broader landscape of" → delete
24
25**Canned analysis phrases:**
26- "highlighting..." / "emphasizing..." / "underscoring..." (as sentence-ending participles) → delete or recast as a standalone sentence
27- "reflecting broader trends in" → delete
28- "contributing to the ongoing dialogue" → delete
29- "valuable insights into" → "ideas about" or delete
30
31**Promotional fluff:**
32- "boasts a vibrant" → "has"
33- "nestled in the heart of" → "in"
34- "rich tapestry of" → delete, describe the thing directly
35- "groundbreaking" → "new" or specific detail
36- "renowned" → "known for [specific thing]" or just name-drop
37
38**Media-coverage chest-beating:**
39- "has been featured in" / "profiled in" → "was covered in" or just name the publication inline
40- "independent coverage in notable outlets" → name the outlets or skip
41- "maintains an active social media presence" → "posts on X" or delete
42
43**Avoidance of simple verbs:**
44- "serves as" → "is"
45- "stands as" → "is"
46- "marks a" → "is"
47- "boasts a" → "has"
48- "offers a" → "has" or "gives"
49- "features a diverse array of" → "has"
50
51**Negative parallelisms / unearned grandiosity:**
52- "not just X, but also Y" → "X and Y" or say what you mean directly
53- "It is not ..., it is ..." → one direct clause
54- "no ..., no ..., just ..." → one direct clause
55- "More than just [category]" → describe the thing directly without the elevation pitch
56
57**Rule-of-three lists:**
58- "adjective, adjective, and adjective" → trim to one or two, or vary the structure
59- "short phrase, short phrase, and short phrase" → break the rhythm: make one longer, merge two, drop one
60
61**AI vocabulary (high-density red flags):**
62- Delete or replace: additionally, delve, crucial, pivotal, robust, intricate, interplay, tapestry, testament, underscore, vibrant, meticulous, fostering, enhancing, enduring, bolster, garner, align with, resonate with, exemplify, showcase
63
64**Em dashes:**
65- Replace with commas, parentheses, or just separate sentences. If you keep them, use `--` (two hyphens) instead of `—`, and use them sparingly.
66
67**Bulky structure:**
68- Kill rigid "Challenges and Future Directions" / "Future Outlook" sections unless the user explicitly asked for them
69- Kill the formulaic "Despite [positive], [subject] faces challenges..." paragraph structure
70- Kill the "In conclusion" / "In summary" wrapper
71- **Arbitrary quantification:** "3 Key Pillars," "5 Core Strategies" — AI forces fluid concepts into numbered baskets. If there aren't exactly three distinct things, don't pretend there are.
72
73## Step 2: Add human irregularities
74
75Vary technique by desired register. Use *lightly* — one or two touches per paragraph, not every sentence.
76
77### Sentence rhythm
78- **Vary sentence length dramatically.** Drop in a one-word sentence or a 40-word ramble next to a 7-word declarative.
79- **Start sentences with "And" or "But"** occasionally.
80- **Use sentence fragments.** "Anyway." "Not really." "The usual."
81- **Break a long sentence with an aside** that could have been a footnote: "the thing — and this was back in 2019, before everything changed — happened."
82
83### Informal punctuation
84- Replace some em dashes with double hyphens `--`
85- Use en-dashes where a human might (sloppily) use hyphens
86- Let a comma splice slip through if the tone is casual enough
87- Drop parentheses for appositives instead of em dashes sometimes
88- Use "..." for trailing off mid-thought
89- End an occasional sentence with a preposition if that's how people actually talk
90
91### Contractions and compression
92- Expand contractions for formality. Contract them for informality. Most AI output under-uses contractions.
93- Use "can't," "won't," "it's," "that's," "there's" in casual text.
94- Drop auxiliary verbs in casual speech patterns: "Guess so," "Makes sense."
95
96### Imperfections
97- **Occasional typos or misspellings** in very informal contexts (not for anything important): "recieve," "definately," "seperate" — no more than one per few hundred words
98- **Minor grammar slips** that don't impede readability: "me and Jake went," "should of," "less people" — only when the register is extremely casual
99- **Inconsistent capitalization** of words-for-emphasis in informal writing: "it was Bad"
100- **Elision:** "wanna," "gonna," "kinda," "sorta," "dunno" — appropriate for dialogue, social posts, very casual blogging
101
102### Vocabulary shifts
103- Replace Latinate abstractions with Anglo-Saxon specifics.
104- Swap "utilize" for "use," "facilitate" for "help," "leverage" for "use," "implementation" for "doing it."
105- Swap "individuals" for "people," "purchased" for "bought," "located" for "in."
106- **False ranges:** "from biology to medieval history" when listing unrelated items — AI loves fake spectra. Say "including biology and medieval history" or just list them.
107- Use "really," "pretty," "kind of," "basically," "actually" as verbal tics — sparingly, but enough to feel spontaneous.
108- Drop a colloquialism: "whatever," "I mean," "honestly," "to be fair," "look," "like" (as filler)
109
110### First-person and opinion
111- AI defaults to third-person neutrality. Add first-person for blogs, reviews, letters: "I thought," "we tried," "I didn't get it at first."
112- Add a mild opinion or subjective reaction: "which seemed weird," "it sounded better than it was."
113- **Take a stand instead of hedging.** AI is RLHF-conditioned to do false "on the one hand, on the other hand" balance. Humans pick a side (unless they genuinely feel ambivalent). State what you think. Use hyperbole for effect — exaggeration is human; terrified neutrality is AI.
114- **If you don't know, say so.** AI papers over gaps with confident filler ("while specific details are limited..."). Humans say "I don't know" or "nobody's sure" or just skip it.
115
116### Specificity over abstraction
117- AI replaces specific facts with generic praise. Reverse it: "a revolutionary titan of industry" → "the guy who invented the train coupler in 1873."
118- Name a concrete thing instead of a concept: not "the vibrant cultural landscape" but "the weekly farmer's market and the punk venue that got shut down."
119
120## Step 3: Match the target register
121
122The degree of humanization depends on context:
123
124| Context | Techniques |
125|---|---|
126| Blog post / newsletter | Contractions, first person, asides, varied sentence length |
127| Social media comment | Fragments, elisions, lowercase, occasional typos, emoji |
128| Business email (casual) | Contractions, lighter structure, drop promotional phrasing, one conversational aside |
129| Fiction dialogue | Elisions, interruptions, trailing thoughts, imperfect grammar |
130| Academic-adjacent essay | Kill AI vocabulary, replace vague analysis with specific claims, vary structure, keep grammar correct |
131| Forum post | All of the above, plus lowercase aggression, sarcasm, or enthusiasm as appropriate |
132
133## What NOT to do
134
135- Don't make every sentence sloppy. Irregularity only works next to regularity.
136- Don't add typos to anything where accuracy matters (legal, medical, technical instructions, citations).
137- Don't overdo the "uh" and "like" verbal filler — it reads as parody.
138- Don't strip all structure. Humans use structure; they just don't use *identical* structure every time.
139- Don't make the text *harder to read*. Make it *more natural to read*.
140
141## Reference
142
143See [references/DETAILED_PATTERNS.md](references/DETAILED_PATTERNS.md) for exhaustive AI-vocabulary lists and model-era-specific tells. See [references/REPLACEMENTS.md](references/REPLACEMENTS.md) for alternative phrasings.