Change the tone of text
Tone is set in two different places in POM AI, and knowing which one to use saves a lot of pointless prompting.
The two controls
For a passage, use the paragraph assistant in rewrite mode with a tone instruction in the prompt.
For a whole generated piece, use the copywriting style selector that the long-form post builder, page designer and site-wide copy generator each offer before they write. The options are Short and direct, Formal and For children.
The style selector applies consistently to every section or page in that run. A prompt instruction applies to one passage. Use the selector when generating; use the prompt when fixing.
The permanent control
Behind both are Brand voice and tone, Preferred vocabulary and terminology, and the other relevant profile sections under Settings → POM AI → AI Setup. These settings decide the default character of everything POM AI writes.
If you are repeatedly correcting the tone of individual passages, the fix is upstream: describe the voice properly there, with a real example sentence, and the corrections mostly stop being necessary. See Provide useful business context.
Changing tone on a passage
- Put the passage in the editor.
- Select Write with AI.
- Choose Rewrite current content with other words.
- Keep Word Count near the current length — tone changes should not change length much.
- Prompt with the target tone.
- Estimate, confirm, review.
Describing a tone usefully
Abstract adjectives produce weak results. Describe behaviour instead.
| Instead of | Say |
|---|---|
| More professional | Remove exclamation marks and superlatives; state facts plainly |
| Friendlier | Address the reader as "you"; use shorter sentences and everyday words |
| More authoritative | Make direct statements without hedging; no "we believe" or "we think" |
| Less salesy | Remove urgency, scarcity and superlatives; describe what it does |
| Warmer | Acknowledge the reader's situation before explaining the solution |
| More technical | Use the correct domain terms and stop explaining basics |
| Less technical | Replace jargon with plain equivalents; a non-specialist should follow it |
Naming a comparison also works well: rewrite this the way a specialist explains something to a colleague, not the way a brochure sells it.
What tone changes tend to break
Precision. "Make it friendlier" is often interpreted as "be vaguer". Add keep every specific detail to the prompt.
Qualifiers. A confident tone can silently promote "usually" into "always". Check hedges against the original.
Consistency with neighbours. A passage retuned in isolation can end up out of key with the paragraphs around it. Read the whole section afterwards.
Approved wording. Never retune legal notices, warranties, disclaimers or safety text. Register is not decoration in those; it is meaning.
Choosing a copywriting style when generating
| Style | Suits |
|---|---|
| Short and direct | Commercial pages, landing pages, most product and service copy |
| Formal | Institutional, regulated, professional-services and B2B contexts |
| For children | Content genuinely written for young readers |
Short and direct is the sensible default for commercial work. Formal is a real register, not simply "more serious" — it produces longer sentences and more distance, which suits some sectors and reads as stiff in others.
Choose deliberately for a site-wide run especially, because that choice becomes the voice of every page it generates. See Generate copy for a complete website.
A quick way to compare
Estimates are free but generations are not, so test on a short representative paragraph rather than a whole page:
- Take one paragraph that is typical of the site.
- Rewrite it with tone instruction A.
- Restore the original and rewrite with tone instruction B.
- Show both to whoever owns the brand voice.
- Write the winning instruction into the business description so it becomes the default.
That last step is what stops the same decision being re-made by every person who generates content.