The rules

Style — Plain, Unambiguous Phrasing

Fixes the usage side of §7 Grammar systems and §8 Sentence structure. Where grammar states the rules, this spec gives the guidance a writer follows to keep World English easy to read and hard to misread. This spec governs the sentence; document-level conventions — punctuation, paragraph shape, and cohesion — live in writing.

These are guidelines, not hard grammar — but they are the difference between technically regular text and genuinely easy text.

Rule S1 — Fixed Subject–Verb–Object order

Rule. Keep the order Subject → Verb → Object. Avoid fronting, inversion, and clefting for emphasis; use plain word choice or a marker instead.

Problem it solves. Free-word-order flexibility and inversion (see §8) are a trap for learners from fixed-order and free-order L1s alike.

Examples. Never have I seen it → I never seed it (see morphology M1). It was John who called → John called. Rarely does she call → She rarely call (fronting undone; see morphology M3).

Trade-off. Loses some rhetorical emphasis; gains one predictable sentence shape.

Rule S2 — Prefer plain verbs over phrasal verbs

Rule. Where a single regular verb exists, use it instead of a non-compositional phrasal verb.

Problem it solves. Phrasal verbs are non-compositional and grammatically irregular (separable/inseparable, pronoun placement) — see §7.

Examples.

Trade-off. Slightly less idiomatic, more learnable. Phrasal verbs are not banned — the transparent ones (sit down, stand up) are fine — only the opaque ones are replaced. The phrasal→plain map lives in vocabulary.md Table B.

Boundary with G3. This rule handles particles that change a verb’s meaning (look after ≠ look). Meaning-neutral prepositions that a verb merely selects (listen to, wait for) are not replaced here — grammar G3 simply drops them.

Rule S3 — One word, one meaning (avoid heavy polysemy)

Rule. In World English writing, prefer the word whose meaning is clearest in context; avoid relying on rare senses of highly polysemous words.

Problem it solves. Common verbs carry enormous sense counts (run has hundreds of senses); learners may know a word yet misread it (see PAIN-POINTS.md §4).

Examples. Instead of run a business → manage a business; run a program → start a program. Reserve run for physical running. Likewise get a letter → receive a letter, get tired → become tired; take a photo → make a photo, take a bus → use a bus.

Trade-off. A little verbosity for a lot of clarity.

The preferred-sense list lives in vocabulary.md Table C.

Rule S4 — Avoid idioms and culture-bound expressions

Rule. Say the literal thing. Avoid idioms (bite the bullet), culture-specific references, and humor that depends on shared background.

Problem it solves. Idioms are non-literal and culturally loaded — a core late-stage difficulty (see PAIN-POINTS.md §4).

Examples. bite the bullet → accept the hard thing; break the ice → start the conversation; piece of cake → very easy.

Trade-off. Less color, far less ambiguity for a global reader.

Rule S5 — State relevance explicitly (cover for the dropped perfect)

Rule. Because World English drops the present perfect (grammar.md G1), use explicit time words to carry “past with present relevance”: already, since, still, just, yet, until now, so far. The list is illustrative, not closed — any plain time word that pins down the relevance is fine.

Problem it solves. Recovers the nuance the perfect used to encode, without its irregular form.

Examples. I have finished → I already finished (finished → past tense + already). She has lived here for ten years (and still does) → She still live here, for ten years (still true → present tense, per G1).

for and since keep their standard split. Use for for a duration (for ten years, for a long time) and since for a starting point (since 2015, since Monday) — this is a real, non-arbitrary distinction, so World English keeps it rather than collapsing it. Since years is wrong in standard English and stays wrong here: a stretch of time takes for.

Trade-off. A word or two longer; the meaning is explicit instead of carried by an opaque tense.

Rule S6 — Prefer regular replacements for collocations

Rule. Where standard English demands a fixed, arbitrary collocation, a regular, literal pairing is acceptable in World English.

Problem it solves. Collocations (heavy rain not strong rain; make the bed) are unpredictable word-partnerships (see PAIN-POINTS.md §4).

Examples. heavy rain → strong rain is fine (a regular, literal adjective+noun pairing instead of the arbitrary collocation); make a decision → decide; do homework → do homework or study.

Trade-off. Sounds less native; removes a large memorization layer.

The collocation→regular map lives in vocabulary.md Table D.

Rule S7 — One default adverb position

Rule. Put manner, frequency, and degree adverbs in one fixed slot: immediately before the main verb (and after any modal or be). A whole-sentence adverb (maybe, probably, certainly) may instead lead the clause. Do not scatter adverbs across the other positions standard English allows.

Problem it solves. English lets the same adverb sit in several positions (I usually go / I go usually / Usually I go), and which are natural is itself an unwritten rule. One default removes the choice and matches the fixed word order of S1.

Examples.

Sentence adverbs lead or take the same slot: Maybe it will rain. / It will maybe rain. Time and place adjuncts (today, here, in the shop) keep their natural clause-final spot — they are not the adverbs that scatter, so the rule leaves them alone. A time or place adjunct may also be fronted for topicalization or emphasis (Next time, plan carefully. / Last year, I traveled to Japan.) — clause-final is the unmarked position, but fronting one adjunct to open the sentence is common, natural English and this rule does not forbid it; it only fixes where the adjunct sits when it is not fronted.

Comparative adverb phrases. The one fixed pre-verb slot is sized for a single-word adverb. A multi-word comparative phrase built with the more/most escape hatch (morphology M5: more quickly, more carefully) is exempt and stays in its natural post-verb position instead: She worked more quickly., Plan more carefully. — not she more quickly worked, which fronts a two-word phrase in front of the verb and reads worse than the order it would replace. This is the one stated exception to the fixed slot, scoped narrowly to multi-word comparative adverb phrases.

The pre-verb slot is the same one not occupies (grammar G6), so negation and adverb placement share one position rule — with one priority rule where both land in the same slot: not always comes first, immediately before the verb, and any other pre-verb adverb sits before that: She not often call. (not she often not call). This holds in every clause type, including be-clauses, continuous, passive, and existential clauses, where not still goes immediately before the main verb: I not be living. / It not be red. / There not be problem.

Trade-off. He carefully drive is slightly less idiomatic than drives carefully, but it is one predictable position instead of several.

Rule S8 — Fixed politeness markers, not graded indirectness

Rule. Mark courtesy with a small closed set of explicit words — please (a request), sorry (an apology), thank you (thanks) — never by grading indirectness. World English does not soften through longer, less direct phrasings (Could you possibly…, I was wondering if you might…); it says the direct thing and adds the marker. Directness is the neutral default and is not rude — the marker, not the indirectness, carries the courtesy.

Problem it solves. Politeness and indirectness calibration — how much to soften a request, refusal, or apology — is the least explicitly taught and most L1-transferred part of §7 pragmatics, and pragmatic failure (not grammar error) is the most-cited source of cross-cultural miscommunication. One fixed marker per function removes the grading entirely.

Examples.

Trade-off. Loses deference shading and the signaling indirectness carries; gains a politeness rule a learner applies without reading the social context. Register itself is fixed separately by writing.md W2; cultural references and humor stay out by S4.

Rule S9 — Plain templates for the hard speech acts

Rule. Use one fixed, low-context frame per speech act, so the “how do I phrase this” question never arises:

Problem it solves. Speech acts — refusals and apologies especially — are the hardest part of §7: they demand target-culture norms, and omitting an email greeting or closing is itself read as impolite. A fixed template per act removes the norm-mastery requirement.

Examples. A refusal keeps G6’s invariant No. and adds a plain reason with a W5 connective: No. Sorry, I can not come because I be busy. (Trailing because-clause, so no comma before it, per G15 / W1.) A request is just that same imperative with please: Please close the door.

Trade-off. Blunter than native usage and less personal; every speech act is unambiguous and needs no cultural calibration. The optional Sorry softener on a refusal is the one permitted concession to warmth — allowed, never required.

Summary