Voice and tone · nuanced · v4.6.1

VT-04

Be confident, not arrogant. State things directly without hedging or over-qualifying. Qualification language is acceptable when making definitive claims would be misleading or legally inaccurate — for example, eligibility statements in healthcare, finance, or legal contexts where outcomes depend on individual circumstances.

Pass example

This will take about 5 minutes.

Fail example

This should probably take around maybe 5 minutes or so.

Relevant content types

Weighted in these moments

This standard behaves differently depending on the reader's moment. Moment-aware evaluation picks one of these adjustments when the moment matches.

  • trust_permission Permission-gated — relax
    Hedging is precision in consent contexts, not weakness.

Example pairs

Concrete before/after pairs observed in public style guides, each with inline attribution. See /sources for the full source list and licensing.

  • trust_permission · short_ui_copyall-rights-reserved

    Not this. This app needs access to your location.

    But this. This app uses your location to suggest nearby coffee shops. You can change this in Settings.

    Apple HIG: permission requests explain WHY, not just what. Trust comes from specificity. — Apple HIG · Requesting permissions

Sources

Style guides that shaped this standard. Each is listed on /sources with its license and opt-out path.

  • Apple HIG
  • Mailchimp

Version history

  1. v4.6.1 · 2026-04-23

    Per-standard version tracking introduced. Every standard starts at the library version current at introduction; bump per-standard when the rule text, examples, or content_type_notes change.

Related standards

Other standards in the Voice and tone category.

  • VT-01 — Use active voice when giving instructions or describing user actions. Passive voice is acceptable for confirmations and system status messages where the actor is irrelevant or where naming the actor would feel unnatural.
  • VT-02 — Address the user directly with 'you' and 'your' in consumer-facing UI copy. Third-person references to 'users,' 'members,' or 'customers' are acceptable in admin interfaces, documentation, and system descriptions where the reader is not the subject.
  • VT-03 — Be conversational but not casual. Write like a knowledgeable colleague, not a robot or a buddy.
  • VT-05 — Show empathy in error and failure states, scaled to the severity of the problem. High-impact errors (payment failures, data loss) should acknowledge the frustration and reassure the user. Low-impact errors (failed upload, timeout) should be clear and helpful without over-dramatizing.

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