Why some phrasings work and others don't
The art of prompting · Lesson 1 / 20
The mechanics: why phrasing decides
A model predicts the continuation of text. Your prompt is the beginning that determines what the continuation will be. Which leads somewhere non-obvious: you aren't "asking" the model, you're creating conditions in which the answer you want becomes the most probable one.
This explains every prompting technique at once. "You are an experienced lawyer" works not because the model believed you, but because after that opening, legal vocabulary and legal reasoning structure become statistically likelier.
Three consequences worth grasping
- Set context, don't issue commands. "Write professionally" is vague. "This is a letter to the board of a major bank" carries a whole layer of expectations.
- The beginning matters more than the end. Early lines shape the "tuning" of the answer more strongly. Put key constraints first.
- The model fills in what you left out. A gap in your prompt doesn't stay empty — it gets filled with the most banal option.
An experiment worth running
Write a job posting for a developer
We're looking for a talented developer to join our friendly team… (clichés from any posting anywhere)
Here are three postings we like: [examples]. Write one in the same spirit for a backend developer at an 8-person startup with no HR department, where everything gets decided at the table.
Eight people, no HR, product already in production… (text that lands in the tone of the examples and the reality of the company)
The second prompt isn't "more polite" — it handed the model a sample distribution to land inside.
What genuinely changes an answer
- Examples of the result you want — the strongest lever.
- Specifics of the situation: numbers, constraints, audience.
- An explicit output format.
- Bans ("no clichés", "never use the word X").
- Role and tone — effective, but weaker than the first four.
Insight. You're not persuading the model — you're narrowing the space of likely continuations. Whatever narrows it more precisely works better.
Common mistake. Adding politeness and adjectives instead of specifics. "Please, really high quality" changes nothing.
Pro tip. If you can't explain what you want, show two examples: "this is good, this is bad". Contrast beats description.
Cheat sheet
- A prompt sets a likely continuation; it doesn't issue orders.
- Examples > descriptions.
- Key material goes first.
- Gaps get filled with banalities.
1. Why does assigning a role work?
2. What influences the result most?
3. What happens to what you left unsaid?