Formal is not the same as templated

The quickest way to make a measure of writing useless is to let it reward casualness. Contractions, exclamation marks and short, chatty sentences are easy to count, and a draft full of them scores well. But most professional writing isn't chatty, and shouldn't be. A board update, a reply to a complaint, a cover letter: these are formal on purpose, and the people who write them well are not writing badly.

01Two letters, one register

Consider a short letter confirming a delayed shipment. One version opens with "I hope this letter finds you well", assures the reader that "rest assured, we are committed to delivering an exceptional experience", and closes by inviting them not to hesitate to reach out. Another says the order left the warehouse on 6 June, apologises for the delay, and notes that the express fee has been credited.

Both are formal. Neither uses a contraction. Only one sounds like a template. The difference isn't register; it's specificity, and the presence of phrases that could sit in any letter about anything.¹1 Score's test suite includes a formal board update with no contractions and several passive sentences. It must stay out of the lowest band, or the tests fail.

02What Score counts, and what it doesn't

So Score counts the template, not the tone. It flags stock openers and closers, inflated words where a plain one exists, sentences that all run the same length, and a few punctuation habits. It measures contraction rate, passive voice and a rough read of register, and shows them in the readout, but they cost nothing.

That choice has a price. A casual message stuffed with clichés will still be flagged, and a formal one written with care will not. We think that's the right way round. The full method, with every weight, is in How Score works.

03Where the line gets blurry

Some formal genres use fixed phrases for good reasons. Legal notices repeat set wording because the wording has been tested. Some business English is taught with exactly the phrases AI models over-use. Score will flag those phrases in both cases, and that's information, not a verdict: the reader decides whether the phrase is doing a job.

04What this means for rewriting

The same rule shapes how Sealis rewrites. A formal voice stays formal. If the samples someone saves are measured and precise, the rewrite is measured and precise, without the stock phrasing the first draft arrived with. Facts, numbers and names stay exactly where they were.

Formality is a choice a writer makes. Template prose is what happens when nobody does.