MEPX
Chapter 10 of 10All chapters
  1. 1What a prompt is doing
  2. 2Giving context
  3. 3Examples
  4. 4Multi-step problems
  5. 5Controlling format
  6. 6Roles and personas
  7. 7Iterating
  8. 8Evaluating prompts
  9. 9Prompt injection
  10. 10Folklore and limits

Chapter 10 of 10

Folklore and limits

What does not help.

Overrated

Politeness, threats, offering tips, insisting it is very important, and elaborate magic phrases. Any effect is small and inconsistent compared with supplying context and examples.

  • Asking it to avoid hallucinating does not prevent hallucination.
  • Very long prompts often perform worse than short precise ones.

When the prompt is not the problem

If the model lacks the knowledge, needs current data, or must do exact arithmetic, no wording fixes it. The answer is retrieval, tools, a different model, or a different approach entirely.