# [Your Site/Brand] — Voice & Vocabulary Cheat Sheet

> A pre-filled starter version of [the blank voice-rules template](/templates/voice-rules-template.md):
> the three sentence-shape rules that show up as AI writing tells most often are already filled
> in below, set to CRITICAL. Add your own approved/forbidden vocabulary, fill in any Style rows
> specific to your site, then paste the whole thing into the "Build a Claude Skill from this doc"
> prompt from the `voice-rules-cheat-sheet` recipe at exitvelocities.com.
>
> Severity: mark every rule **CRITICAL** (never broken) or **PREFERRED** (default, breakable with
> a stated reason).

## Vocabulary

| Approved | Forbidden | Severity | Notes |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| [approved term] | [forbidden synonym(s)] | [CRITICAL/PREFERRED] | [why this term, not the others] |
| [approved term] | [forbidden synonym(s)] | [CRITICAL/PREFERRED] | [why this term, not the others] |

*Optional: add an Audience column back in if a rule only applies to part of your site (homepage,
nav, one section). Most rules apply everywhere, so it's left out here to keep the table narrow.*

## Style

### Off-brand — never do this (CRITICAL)

| Rule | Guidance | Watch for |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| No parallel construction | Repeating the same grammatical shape to set up a contrast reads sharp once and gimmicky the second time on a page. State the thing directly instead of building it from a mirrored shape. | "as X, not Y" repeated more than once on a page |
| Em dashes, capped at one | One em dash per page, recipe, or post is fine. A second one starts to read like AI cadence. Rewrite the rest as two sentences, or use a comma or colon for the pause. | — |
| No "not X, but Y" | The single most common AI sentence shape. Say what the thing is; skip the setup that defines it against what it isn't. | "not X, but Y", "isn't just X, it's Y" |
| [your rule] | [why it's off-brand and what to do instead] | [trigger words/phrases, or —] |

### Avoid — defaults to break, not absolute bans (PREFERRED)

| Rule | Guidance | Watch for |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| [pattern to avoid by default] | [what to do instead] | [trigger words/phrases] |

### Patterns — watch the cadence, none are hard bans (PREFERRED)

| Rule | Guidance |
| :--- | :--- |
| [sentence-shape or cadence tic to monitor] | [when it's fine vs. when it's become a tic] |

### Tone principles (PREFERRED)

| Principle | Guidance |
| :--- | :--- |
| [tone principle] | [what it means in practice] |