How to edit the machine out of your writing

You read the draft twice and something is off, but you cannot point at a line. Each sentence passes alone, and the page still sounds like nobody wrote it.

To make AI writing sound human, edit it in two passes. First strip the patterns that make copy read as machine made, like long dashes and praise nobody asked for. Then rewrite so the answer comes first, in plain words.

The short answer

• Pass one removes the machine patterns. Pass two puts the answer first.
• Long dashes are an absolute ban. Use commas, periods or colons, and a pipe only in page titles.
• Bold words, lists of three and -ing phrases are judgment calls. Keep them only when they earn their place.

Example: one email, two passes

Example

1. Pass one: strip the patterns
2. Pass two: put the answer first

The draft

1. Thanks so much for reaching out. Cut: greeting that praises the question
2. I hope this email finds you well. Cut: throat clearing
3. It might be worth considering a few options. Cut: hedging

After pass two

1. Line one You asked about the second option. Answer first
2. It fits your door. Here is how it works.

Strip the machine patterns first, then move the answer to the first line.

We went through this ourselves. We noticed our drafts read as obviously machine made, with long dashes, formulaic patterns and promotional language. So we built an edit routine, and it is short enough to run on your own service pages and customer emails this week.

Why the copy feels off before you can say why

A page can be accurate and polite and still read as unattended, because the same shapes keep showing up: praise nobody asked for, hedges, lists that always run to three, a long dash in the middle of a thought.

The obvious fix is a better prompt. In our view that is the wrong place to look.

Trust is exactly what a templated sentence spends.

Our strip pass runs in two steps: a check against about 30 known patterns, then one blunt question: what makes this obviously machine made? You need the handful that show up most, plus the discipline to answer that question honestly.

We think this matters more for owners than for writers. An owner's copy is a promise to a stranger at a bad moment, outside a locked door on an emergency locksmith page or beside a leaking pipe, and a stranger who senses a template may stop trusting the rest of the page.

The edit is for that reader, not a disguise. Google says its ranking systems aim to reward original, high-quality content, however it is produced. Its guide to helpful, reliable, people-first content also names trust as the most important part of E-E-A-T. Trust is exactly what a templated sentence spends.

Pass one: strip the patterns

Pass one is a pattern scan. Read the draft against a list of known machine habits and delete each one you find. Pass one aims for a draft with nothing left a reader would recognize as machine made. After the scan, ask what makes it obviously machine made and fix what the question names.

These are the top offenders we always catch: long dashes, bold keyword spam, filler phrases that end in -ing, significance inflation, a fancier verb where a plain "is" would do, and the rule of three.

Here is what that looks like on a service page and in a customer email. The left column is typical machine style. The right column is the same job done in plain words.

Before: sounds like a machine

• Our dedicated team is passionate about delivering exceptional, high-quality service to our customers.
• We offer fast, reliable, and friendly lockout help, and we are always here for you.
• Thanks so much for reaching out. I hope this email finds you well. It might be worth considering a few options.

After: sounds like a person

• We fix and replace locks.
• Call and tell us what happened. We will say what the job needs before we start.
• You asked about the second option. It fits your door. Here is how it works.

Notice what the rewrites do not do. They do not add personality or jokes. They remove the padding and let the sentence say the thing. The email rewrite also drops the greeting that praises the question, because a customer who asked about a lock wants the answer.

Pass two: put the answer first

Pass two puts the answer in the first line. A service page answers what the visitor typed into search. A customer email answers what the customer asked. Whatever comes first should be that answer, stated plainly enough that someone could quote it.

Our writing rules for this are strict. No hedging, such as "it might be worth considering." No throat clearing, such as an opener that praises the question. No filler. Never say "it depends" without saying, in the same breath, what it depends on. And if you lack the information to decide, say exactly what is missing instead of going vague.

Tap a card

• Hedging In the draft It might be worth considering. The fix State the answer plainly enough that someone could quote it.

  Hedging The fix State the answer plainly enough that someone could quote it.
• Throat clearing In the draft An opener that praises the question The fix Move the answer to line one.

  Throat clearing The fix Move the answer to line one.
• It depends In the draft "It depends" with nothing after it The fix Say, in the same breath, what it depends on.

  It depends The fix Say, in the same breath, what it depends on.
• Going vague In the draft You lack the information to decide The fix Say exactly what is missing.

  Going vague The fix Say exactly what is missing.
• Long dashes In the draft A long dash in the middle of a thought The fix A comma, period or colon in sentences, a pipe only in page titles.

  Long dashes The fix A comma, period or colon in sentences, a pipe only in page titles.

Writing rules from both passes, and what to do instead.

The answer-first edit

1. 01

   Find the question the reader brought

   For a page, it is the search that landed them there. For an email, it is the sentence they sent you.

2. 02

   Move the answer to line one

   Cut the greeting and the warm up above it. They can follow the answer if they earn a place.

3. 03

   Replace vague conditions with real ones

   If the honest answer depends on something, name the thing in the same sentence.

4. 04

   Say what is missing

   When you cannot decide without one more fact, ask for that fact by name.

Length is not the fix either. Why a longer service page does not rank better covers the ranking side. Put the answer first and the page can stay short.

Which rules are absolute and which are judgment

One rule on the list is absolute and the rest are judgment, because a good writer sometimes uses a list of three or a bold word.

That split saves time, because you never argue with yourself about a rule you can check by search.

Absolute rule Judgment call

• What it covers

  Absolute rule

  Long dashes.

  Judgment call

  Everything else on the list, from bold words to lists of three.

• How you check it

  Absolute rule

  By search, in seconds.

  Judgment call

  With a reader, out loud.

• What you do

  Absolute rule

  A comma, period or colon in sentences, a pipe only in page titles.

  Judgment call

  Keep it only when it earns its place, and rewrite it if not.

• The question

  Absolute rule

  Is there a long dash? Then it goes.

  Judgment call

  Would you say it to the customer at the counter?

This is our opinion, not a law of writing: when in doubt, cut.

One more standard, and it is ours: finished copy must be ready to use as is. Not a template you can customize. If the page needs rework before it goes live, the edit is not done.

Run the edit on your own copy this week

Pick one service page and a few recent customer emails, then run both passes in order. Strip the patterns first, search the page for long dashes, and then rewrite the opening so it answers the question the reader came with. Stop when the first line of every section answers its heading.

Do it on paper if that helps. Read the first sentence of each section and ask if it answers the heading above it. If a section opens with scene setting, move the answer up and let the scene follow. Then read the whole page once more as a stranger would, and cut anything that sounds like praise for yourself.

If you want a second pair of hands on the edit, this is the kind of content work we do.

Stop when the first line of every section answers its heading.

One last habit before anything goes live. Run a pre-mortem on the page and ask what a skeptical reader would say first. If your first sentence already answers that, the second pass did its job.

Run both passes this week

• Pick one service page and a few recent customer emails.
• Search the page for long dashes and replace every one.
• Delete the praise, hedges and filler the pattern scan finds.
• Ask what makes the draft obviously machine made, and fix what the answer names.
• Move the answer to the first line of every section.
• Read the page aloud as a stranger would and cut any praise for yourself.

Both passes done

This post was drafted with AI tools from our own project records, anonymized, and checked by us before it published. Read our editorial standards.