We can all agree that AI-powered tools like ChatGPT are helpful in the writing and editing process. But here’s the thing: they suck at simplifying complex sentences.
Most of the time, when you give ChatGPT complex texts, it strips away too much at the expense of clarity and brevity. So, you end up with a watered-down version stripped of its original tone, meaning, and engagement.
Luckily, you can avoid sentence oversimplification and transform ChatGPT into your free personal AI sentence simplifier that retains the intended message of your sentences.
Assign ChatGPT’s Role In Simplifying A Sentence
Simply asking ChatGPT to simplify a sentence for you is not going to cut it — you have to assign ChatGPT a role. Why? Here are three compelling reasons to immediately start implementing this step:
- Clarifies what ChatGPT needs to do
- Responses are consistent and more relevant based on your needs
- Allows ChatGPT to tap into the right insights or knowledge
- Implement grammar rules
With that in mind, what should you assign to ChatGPT? Give it the editor role.
While you can make it as a proofreader, this role is only for “cosmetic” mistakes like typos, extra spaces, and missing punctuation.
Editors, on the other hand, dive deeper. A good editor will restructure copy for flow and clarity, add or cut words, organize ideas, and adjust style based on your target demo.
Specify the Target Audience
Now that you’ve made ChatGPT your editor, you will need to supply it with who precisely will read your sentence.
For instance, to effectively engage a C-suite audience, prompt ChatGPT to: “Provide concise, data-driven talking points tailored for senior tech executives with an MBA.”
This approach encourages ChatGPT to maintain essential financial terminology while removing superfluous business jargon.
If you’re working on technical content, you could ask ChatGPT: “Simplify copy for software engineers with 5+ years of experience in cloud computing.”
It will preserve requisite technical ideas while stripping the sentence of redundant language.
For marketing materials directed at small business owners, prompt ChatGPT to: “Simplify copy for small business owners with limited technical knowledge.”
This will help the chatbot replace industry lingo with clear, functional language.
Set the Readability Level
Readability goes hand in hand with target audience.
Gen Z prefers upbeat, in-your-face content that’s bold and to the point, while business professionals favor bullet points and clear takeaways. On the other hand, academics expect deeper analysis and scientific or scholarly language.
In short, tell ChatGPT your audience, and it will adjust its suggestions to match their reading capabilities.
Reduce Commas
Punctuation marks should be intentional—every comma, parenthesis, semicolon, and dash instructs readers to pause. ChatGPT can help pinpoint unnecessary commas that break up your sentences.
- Save parentheses for digressions you can’t avoid.
- Dashes work best for emphasis, not as comma replacements.
- Semicolons often indicate that a sentence should be divided into separate parts.
Let’s take a look at an example:
Original: “Our annual team gathering, which is taking place next Friday, from 2-6 PM, at the downtown convention center, will feature lots of activities like team-building exercises and — most importantly — free food.
What to tell ChatGPT: “Simplify this sentence. Assess my use of punctuation and how it breaks up sentence clarity and flow. Provide specific suggestions to make my copy more straightforward without changing the original message. Keep information about the date, time, activities, and free food.”
Simplified: “Join our annual team celebration next Friday. We’ll have team-building activities and free food at the downtown convention center from 2-6 PM.”
Remove Filler Words
Don’t dilute strong ideas with crutch words. Use ChatGPT to turn a long sentence into a more digestible statement.
Communicate to the chatbot that you don’t want to alter the sentence’s main gist. You only want to strip your sentence of space-taking words like “literally,” “essentially,” “actually,” and “completely,” to name a few.
Original: “Essentially, my master’s thesis aims to thoroughly explore what could be described as the fundamental elements of social inequality.”
What to tell ChatGPT: Simplify this sentence by removing filler words like essentially. Be as concise and direct as possible without sounding curt.”
Simplified: “My thesis explores the core elements of social inequality.”
Use Active Voice Instead of Passive Voice
Reading something written in passive voice can be an isolating experience. In a passive sentence, the reader has to wait until the end to learn who did what, or they will never find out. Active voice removes that distance, making your writing more direct.
Ask ChatGPT to: “Simplify these sentences by rewriting them in active voice. Keep the meaning, but clarify who is taking each action upfront.”
Reduce Unnecessary Modifiers and Adverbs
Beware of words ending in -ly — they’re often signs that your verbs can’t stand on their own.
Instead of a verb + adverb duo as found in “the housing market rapidly declined,” use a singular, more powerful verb like “plummeted” to simplify the sentence.
A suggested ChatGPT prompt? “Replace weak verb + adverb combinations with single, stronger verbs. Flag any unnecessary modifiers that weaken the writing.”
Remove Empty Phrases
Empty phrases like “more or less, “due to the fact that” and “at this point in time” add words for the sake of adding words.
Fine-tune your message by changing these expressions with “to,” “because,” and “now.” Ask ChatGPT to identify and replace hyperbole with sharper figures of speech. Let’s look at an example.
Empty Phrase(s): “For the most part” and “for all intents and purposes”
Original: “While the research findings indicate that, for the most part, the experimental intervention had—in the majority of observed cases—a statistically significant impact on participant outcomes, which were, for all intents and purposes, consistent across demographic variables, it should be noted that, in terms of practical applications, further studies may be necessary to validate these preliminary results.
What to tell ChatGPT: “Simplify these sentences. Replace wordy phrases and redundant language with clear and direct alternatives. Keep the core message while eliminating superfluous words.”
Simplified: “The intervention significantly improved outcomes across demographics, though more research is needed.”
Use Subject-Verb-Object Sentence Structure
Using complex sentence structures one after another can give your readers cognitive overload.
Establish a clear link between your subject (noun) and the action it’s taking (verb) by keeping them close together in a sentence. Let’s take a look at an example.
Original: “The latke recipe, which has been passed down through three generations of my family and includes a secret ingredient that makes them extra crispy, was improved by my cousin this holiday.”
What to tell ChatGPT: Simplify this sentence by keeping subjects close to their verbs.”
Simplified: “My cousin improved our family’s latke recipe over Hannukah.”
Set the Sentence Length
Lengthy sentences hinder reader comprehension.
Readers catch 100% of your message when sentences are eight words or less. At 14 words, comprehension stays strong at 90%. But stretch to 43 words? Comprehension drops below 10%.
Ask ChatGPT to make each sentence no longer than 20 words. This will help keep your reader’s attention.
Replace Complex Words
Fancy words don’t make you sound smarter. If your vocab is too flowery, it’s likely blurring your message. However, rewriting a sentence in plain English isn’t the same as dumbing it down. Your lingo should be familiar to whoever is reading or listening to it.
A prime example of replacing complex words in action is the Plain Writing Act of 2010. The bill mandates that government agencies write all public-facing messages in clear and understandable language the public will understand.
So, if plain language is good enough for government agencies to communicate critical information, it’s also good enough for your writing.
ChatGPT Prompt for Sentence Simplification
A thoughtful prompt will get you the best results. Give ChatGPT explicit instructions to simplify your sentences and preserve the core message. Start by using this prompt:
Imagine you are an editor. You are simplifying content for [target audience].
Simplify this sentence: [sentence(s)]
To simplify, consider doing the following:
• Remove unnecessary words
• Use simple words
• Avoid redundancy
• Break long sentences into two
• Use active voice
• Focus on the main idea
• Eliminate jargon
• Reduce commas
• Remove filler words
• Reduce unnecessary modifiers and adverbs
• Remove empty phrases
• Use Subject-Verb-Object sentence structure
• Make sentences no longer than 20 words
• Replace complex wordsPro tip: Always ask ChatGPT to explain its changes so you know where you went off track.
Don’t Let ChatGPT Water Down Your Words!
In summary, ChatGPT can be a godsend in shortening the writing process. However, it shouldn’t come at the cost of your intended tone and message. Remember always to give it a role and feed it with clear and detailed prompts so it can retain and respect the pizzazz or flair of your sentences —even when you ask this AI tool to simplify it!