How to Rewrite a Sentence for Clarity and Impact on Mac

You know what you want to say, but the sentence comes out bloated. Extra words pile up, the point gets buried, and the reader has to work too hard to find it. Learning to rewrite a sentence well is one of the most practical writing skills there is — and one of the hardest to do consistently under deadline pressure.

Tools like Grammarly offer sentence rewriting, but they live inside browser extensions or dedicated editors. Google's "rewrite this for me" suggestions work only in Google Docs. If you're writing in Mail, Slack, Notes, or any other Mac app, you're on your own — unless you use WunderType.

Rewrite a Sentence Anywhere on Your Mac

WunderType is a macOS menu bar app that gives you AI-powered text actions through Custom Prompts. Each prompt carries its own instruction and keyboard shortcut, and it works in every application on your Mac. To rewrite a sentence, you select the text, press your shortcut, and the improved version replaces the original in place.

No copying to a browser tab. No pasting back. No context switching at all.

See the Sentence Rewriter in Action

Here's a sentence that says something valid but takes too long to say it:

Before

The thing is that when you look at the data it becomes pretty clear that there are some issues that we need to address sooner rather than later.

Select the text, press ⇧⌘R, and WunderType delivers:

After

The data clearly reveals several issues we must address soon to prevent future problems.

The rewritten sentence is half the length and twice as direct. The filler phrases — "the thing is that," "when you look at," "it becomes pretty clear that" — are gone. What remains is the actual point, stated clearly.

Rewriting vs. Paraphrasing: They're Not the Same

Paraphrasing means expressing the same idea in different words, often to avoid repetition or plagiarism. Rewriting goes further. When you rewrite a sentence, you're improving it — tightening structure, sharpening clarity, increasing impact. A paraphrased sentence might be just as wordy as the original; a rewritten one should be better.

WunderType's Custom Prompts let you build both tools separately. Your Sentence Rewriter prompt focuses on conciseness and impact. A separate paraphrase prompt could focus on alternative phrasing. Different goals, different instructions, different shortcuts.

Why WunderType Beats Browser-Based Rewriting Tools

When people ask "How do I get Google to rewrite a sentence?" the answer is: you open Google Docs, use the built-in suggestions, and hope they fit your tone. But that only works in one application. Grammarly's sentence rewriter requires a browser extension or a desktop app with limited integrations.

WunderType works at the system level. Any text field in any Mac app — Mail, Pages, Slack, VS Code, Notion, Safari — is fair game. You're not locked into one editor or one browser. The rewriting happens where your cursor already sits.

Set Up the Sentence Rewriter Prompt

1. Click the WunderType icon in your Mac's menu bar and open Custom Prompts.
2. Create a new prompt named Sentence Rewriter with an instruction like: "Rewrite the selected text for maximum clarity and conciseness. Remove filler words, redundant phrases, and unnecessary qualifiers. Keep the original meaning and tone intact. Output only the rewritten text."
3. Assign ⇧⌘R as the keyboard shortcut.
4. Save — the shortcut now works in every app on your Mac.

When Sentence Rewriting Matters Most

First drafts are supposed to be rough. The problem is that rough sentences often survive into final versions because editing them one by one takes effort. With a dedicated rewriting shortcut, you can clean up sentences as fast as you can select them. This is especially useful for:

• Business emails — where every extra word costs the reader's attention
• Reports and proposals — where clarity builds credibility
• Academic writing — where concise arguments score higher
• Content editing — where tighter sentences keep readers scrolling

You don't need to be a professional editor. You just need a shortcut that does the editing for you, right where you write.

Download WunderType from the Mac App Store and start rewriting sentences with a single keystroke.