Free courses / Prompt Engineering Basics / Lesson 3
Format and limits
Tell it the shape and the size, and it stops rambling.
Ask for a table when you want to compare, a numbered list when you want steps, and a single paragraph when you want to read. Say the length: “under 120 words”, “five bullets”, “one page”.
Limits also mean exclusions: “no jargon”, “do not suggest anything that needs a lawyer”, “British English”. Each one removes a whole class of unhelpful answers.
If the answer ignores a limit, say so and ask again. Models follow the second instruction better than the first more often than you would expect.
- Name the shape and the size.
- Exclusions remove whole classes of bad answers.
- Repeat an ignored limit.
DOT / THE TRANSLATOR
Tell me the shape and the size or I will give you nine paragraphs when you wanted four bullet points. I am not being difficult; I genuinely do not know.
Try it
Find a rambling answer you were given, ask again with a shape and a size, and compare how much of each you actually read to the end.
Answer this in no more than five bullet points, each under fifteen words, with no introduction and no summary at the end. If that is not enough room, say so rather than overrunning.
Then paste it into whichever assistant you use — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot. Not sure which? Meet them all.
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