plain-business-english

Readme

# plain-business-english 商务英文·事实尺度

For writers whose first language is not English — especially Chinese L1 professionals — whose English is grammatically fine but registers wrong: too excited, too apologetic, too padded, or too casual where it counts.

写给英语非母语、尤其是中文母语的职场人：语法没错但"语域"不对——太亢奋、太抱歉、太铺垫、或在关键场合太随意。

## Why / 为什么

English business register rewards **calibration**: a calm sentence with a number persuades more than an excited one without. The common failure modes are all inflation — enthusiasm inflation ("I am truly excited..."), apology inflation ("Sorry to bother you, I just wanted to quickly..."), certainty inflation ("This will definitely..."), and padding that buries the point in paragraph three. None of it is grammatical error, which is why dictionaries and grammar tools never catch it.

英文商务语域奖励**校准**：一句带数字的平静陈述，比一句不带数字的亢奋更有说服力。常见失败全是"通胀"——热情通胀、道歉通胀、确定性通胀、把重点埋在第三段的铺垫。这些都不是语法错误，所以词典和语法工具永远抓不住。

## What it changes / 它改什么

| 失败模式 | 改成 |
|---|---|
| "I am genuinely excited to..." | state what you did or offer, then the fact |
| "Sorry to bother you..." | the request itself, politely direct |
| "This will definitely solve..." | what it does, with the evidence |
| 点埋在第三段 | bottom line up front — first sentence carries the ask |
| joking in a first email to a senior contact | warmth through precision, not through jokes |
| "maybe we could possibly..." | one hedge where you mean it, none where you don't |

## The rule behind all of it / 背后只有一条规则

**State facts at their size.** A small fact in a big sentence reads as unreliable; a big fact in a calm sentence reads as credible. Match the sentence's energy to the fact's size, and most of register fixes itself.

**按事实本来的尺寸陈述它。**小事写大，读起来不可靠；大事写得平静，读起来可信。句子的能量对齐事实的尺寸，语域问题就解决了大半。

## Honest limitations / 如实说明局限

- Register norms vary by industry and company culture; the skill states defaults, not laws.
- It will not fix weak arguments — only make honest ones land at their true size.
- Idiomatic fluency is out of scope; this is calibration, not ghostwriting.

语域规范因行业和公司文化而异；skill 给的是默认值不是法律。它不修论证薄弱——只让诚实的内容以真实分量落地。地道流利不在范围内；这是校准，不是代写。

## Install / 安装

```bash
git clone https://github.com/ChenneyZhuang/plain-business-english ~/.claude/skills/plain-business-english
```

One SKILL.md, zero dependencies — works on drafts the agent writes and on drafts you paste for review. MIT. v0.1.0.

单个 SKILL.md，零依赖——既能约束 agent 写的稿，也能改你贴过来审的稿。MIT 许可，v0.1.0。