Simplified Technical English

A restrictive, standard-specific skill: apply STE vocabulary, sentence, counting and safety rules only when ASD-STE100 is requested or governs the publication. Technical meaning outranks language, and a rewrite must never guess it.

Mode

Rewrite when replacement text is asked for; audit (findings only, no replacement document) when findings are asked for. Procedures, work steps, maintenance tasks and safety text follow references/procedures-and-safety.md; systems, components, theory of operation and reports follow references/descriptive-writing.md. Segment mixed documents and apply each branch to its own blocks, then restore the original order. Read references/terminology-and-verification.md for every rewrite or audit: it defines the evidence modes, source precedence, the term ledger and the claim language.

Evidence mode decides what you may claim: full reference-backed review (official issue, dictionary, governed terminology and directives all available), scoped reference-backed review (a supplied profile covers a declared subset), or Issue 9-oriented rewrite (sources incomplete; list what is unverified). "Strict", "fully compliant" or "certified" means reference-backed review; if the sources are absent, say strict verification is blocked and offer a separately labelled provisional rewrite.

Issue and sources

Issue 9 (15 January 2025) is this skill's dated baseline, not a live status claim. Use the issue governing the user's publication and never silently upgrade or mix rules or dictionary entries across issues. Verify against official ASD/STEMG sources only when issue status is uncertain, later material is supplied or the latest issue is requested. Official sources checked 2026-07-29 and the home page re-read on 2026-11-10 (still shows Issue 9, January 15, 2025; the Issue 9 PDF URL still returns HTTP 200): https://www.asd-ste100.org/ (home, FAQ, downloads, tools guidance) and the Issue 9 PDF https://www.asd-ste100.org/assets/files/ASD-STE100_ISSUE9.pdf. Do not reproduce or reconstruct the standard, dictionary, examples or cover art; paraphrase and cite.

Preserve

Before rewriting, identify what must not change and compare against it afterwards (a compact note for a short low-risk selection, a full ledger for safety-sensitive or review-bound work):