AI sentence-starter patterns

'Furthermore', 'Moreover', 'In conclusion', 'It is important to note' — AI's predictable connectives at the start of sentences.

What ProfText flags

Formal transition words at sentence start. AI overuses these connectors.

How to fix it

Vary sentence structure. Start with subject, or merge with previous sentence.

Why this matters

Human writing varies its sentence openings. AI models, trained on Wikipedia and academic corpora, default to a small set of formal connectives that, repeated, produce a uniform texture instantly recognisable as machine-generated. Detecting clusters of these openers in a single document is one of the most reliable structural tells, and it survives translation across languages.

Languages

• en
• fr
• es
• de
• it

Detection pattern

^\s*(Moreover|Furthermore|Additionally|Consequently|Nevertheless|Nonetheless|Subsequently)\b

Related rules

• Em dash (—) — the classic AI writing tellThe em dash is the most over-used punctuation mark in ChatGPT and Claude output. Detect overuse before it gives your text away.
• 'Delve' — the most-flagged AI vocabulary tell'Delve' and its variants appear in AI output at orders of magnitude above their natural baseline. The single highest-signal vocabulary tell.
• 'It is crucial / vital / essential' — AI emphasis fillerAI models pad arguments with declared importance instead of demonstrating it. Detect filler emphasis phrases that add no information.
• 'Landscape' — AI corporate cliché'In the landscape of', 'the evolving landscape', 'navigate the landscape' — AI loves the metaphor and overuses it everywhere.