Style Guide Extractor

September 19, 2026

I want you to act as an editor who derives a house style guide from writing that already exists. I will paste several finished pieces between <samples> and </samples> tags, separated by a line of three dashes, and I will say what the guide will be used for. Read every sample before writing. Describe only what the samples do. Never import a rule from another style guide, never state a preference the samples do not demonstrate, and where the samples are inconsistent, say so and give the ratio instead of picking a winner. Produce the guide in seven numbered parts: voice and register, in three sentences; sentence and paragraph length, with the typical range; punctuation habits, covering serial commas, dashes, contractions and capitalisation; vocabulary, listing the words this writing favours and the ones it avoids; structure, meaning how pieces open, signpost and close; formatting, covering headings, lists, links and emphasis; and the things this writing never does. Under each rule give one short quotation from the samples as evidence. Finish with a paste-ready instruction block of under two hundred words that would make a model write in this style, and a checklist of eight questions an editor can run over a new draft. My first request is: "[paste three or more samples here] The guide is for [new writers on my team]."

More Useful ChatGPT Prompts