ai-writing-detection

Words, phrases, and punctuation patterns commonly associated with AI-generated text.

AI Writing Detection

Words, phrases, and punctuation patterns commonly associated with AI-generated text. Avoid these to ensure writing sounds natural and human.

Sources: Grammarly (2025), Microsoft 365 Life Hacks (2025), GPTHuman (2025), Walter Writes (2025), Textero (2025), Plagiarism Today (2025), Rolling Stone (2025), MDPI Blog (2025)

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Contents

• Em Dashes: The Primary AI Tell
• Overused Verbs
• Overused Adjectives
• Overused Transitions and Connectors
• Phrases That Signal AI Writing (Opening Phrases, Transitional Phrases, Concluding Phrases, Structural Patterns)
• Filler Words and Empty Intensifiers
• Academic-Specific AI Tells
• How to Self-Check

Em Dashes: The Primary AI Tell

The em dash (—) has become one of the most reliable markers of AI-generated content.

Em dashes are longer than hyphens (-) and are used for emphasis, interruptions, or parenthetical information. While they have legitimate uses in writing, AI models drastically overuse them.

Why Em Dashes Signal AI Writing

• AI models were trained on edited books, academic papers, and style guides where em dashes appear frequently
• AI uses em dashes as a shortcut for sentence variety instead of commas, colons, or parentheses
• Most human writers rarely use em dashes because they don't exist as a standard keyboard key
• The overuse is so consistent that it has become the unofficial signature of ChatGPT writing

What To Do Instead

| Instead of | Use | |------------|-----| | The results—which were surprising—showed... | The results, which were surprising, showed... | | This approach—unlike traditional methods—allows... | This approach, unlike traditional methods, allows... | | The study found—as expected—that... | The study found, as expected, that... | | Communication skills—both written and verbal—are essential | Communication skills (both written and verbal) are essential |

Guidelines

• Use commas for most parenthetical information
• Use colons to introduce explanations or lists
• Use parentheses for supplementary information
• Reserve em dashes for rare, deliberate emphasis only
• If you find yourself using more than one em dash per page, revise

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Overused Verbs

| Avoid | Use Instead | |-------|-------------| | delve (into) | explore, examine, investigate, look at | | leverage | use, apply, draw on | | optimise | improve, refine, enhance | | utilise | use | | facilitate | help, enable, support | | foster | encourage, support, develop, nurture | | bolster | strengthen, support, reinforce | | underscore | emphasise, highlight, stress | | unveil | reveal, show, introduce, present | | navigate | manage, handle, work through | | streamline | simplify, make more efficient | | enhance | improve, strengthen | | endeavour | try, attempt, effort | | ascertain | find out, determine, establish | | elucidate | explain, clarify, make clear |

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Overused Adjectives

| Avoid | Use Instead | |-------|-------------| | robust | strong, reliable, thorough, solid | | comprehensive | complete, thorough, full, detailed | | pivotal | key, critical, central, important | | crucial | important, key, essential, critical | | vital | important, essential, necessary | | transformative | significant, important, major | | cutting-edge | new, advanced, recent, modern | | groundbreaking | new, original, significant | | innovative | new, original, creative | | seamless | smooth, easy, effortless | | intricate | complex, detailed, complicated | | nuanced | subtle, complex, detailed | | multifaceted | complex, varied, diverse | | holistic | complete, whole, comprehensive |

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Overused Transitions and Connectors

| Avoid | Use Instead | |-------|-------------| | furthermore | also, in addition, and | | moreover | also, and, besides | | notwithstanding | despite, even so, still | | that being said | however, but, still | | at its core | essentially, fundamentally, basically | | to put it simply | in short, simply put | | it is worth noting that | note that, importantly | | in the realm of | in, within, regarding | | in the landscape of | in, within | | in today's [anything] | currently, now, today |

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Phrases That Signal AI Writing

Opening Phrases to Avoid

• "In today's fast-paced world..."
• "In today's digital age..."
• "In an era of..."
• "In the ever-evolving landscape of..."
• "In the realm of..."
• "It's important to note that..."
• "Let's delve into..."
• "Imagine a world where..."

Transitional Phrases to Avoid

• "That being said..."
• "With that in mind..."
• "It's worth mentioning that..."
• "At its core..."
• "To put it simply..."
• "In essence..."
• "This begs the question..."

Concluding Phrases to Avoid

• "In conclusion..."
• "To sum up..."
• "By [doing X], you can [achieve Y]..."
• "In the final analysis..."
• "All things considered..."
• "At the end of the day..."

Structural Patterns to Avoid

• "Whether you're a [X], [Y], or [Z]..." (listing three examples after "whether")
• "It's not just [X], it's also [Y]..."
• "Think of [X] as [elaborate metaphor]..."
• Starting sentences with "By" followed by a gerund: "By understanding X, you can Y..."

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Filler Words and Empty Intensifiers

These words often add nothing to meaning. Remove them or find specific alternatives:

• absolutely
• actually
• basically
• certainly
• clearly
• definitely
• essentially
• extremely
• fundamentally
• incredibly
• interestingly
• naturally
• obviously
• quite
• really
• significantly
• simply
• surely
• truly
• ultimately
• undoubtedly
• very

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Academic-Specific AI Tells

| Avoid | Use Instead | |-------|-------------| | shed light on | clarify, explain, reveal | | pave the way for | enable, allow, make possible | | a myriad of | many, numerous, various | | a plethora of | many, numerous, several | | paramount | very important, essential, critical | | pertaining to | about, regarding, concerning | | prior to | before | | subsequent to | after | | in light of | because of, given, considering | | with respect to | about, regarding, for | | in terms of | regarding, for, about | | the fact that | that (or rewrite sentence) |

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How to Self-Check

1. Read your text aloud. If phrases sound unnatural in speech, revise them
2. Ask: "Would I say this in a conversation with a colleague?"
3. Check for repetitive sentence structures
4. Look for clusters of the words listed above
5. Ensure varied sentence lengths (not all similar length)
6. Verify each intensifier adds genuine meaning