My latest trick (literally from yesterday) is to just ask it to write according to ISO 24495-1, the standard for plain language:

> [This standard is] for anybody who creates or helps create documents. The widest use of plain language is for documents that are intended for the general public. However, it is also applicable, for example, to technical writing, legislative drafting or using controlled languages.

You don't actually have the buy the standard, but this is it: https://www.iso.org/standard/78907.html

And you can read it for free here: https://www.iso.org/obp/ui#iso:std:iso:24495:-1:ed-1:v1:en

▲

martinald 35 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Keep in mind all this kind of stuff can make the model less capable. If it has to think in "plain" English, it may well be squashing quality of code etc output.

I'm not sure how true this is, but when using "forced" json output it def had a big drop off in quality - https://arxiv.org/html/2408.02442v3.

I think you're better not fighting it with hacks like this and find a different model.

	▲	silverwind 28 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Changing output style shouldn't affect thinking at all.

▲

numeri an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Does this actually work for you? Do you provide access to the text of the standard, or literally just say "write according to ISO 24495-1"?

	▲	chuckadams 20 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I doubt you have to do anything more than that very prompt. I suspect the model has the full standard in its training set, which means it also gets the gist of it due to not just the general associations it makes but also the amount that it's been cited wherever it's been used.