When Examples Help

Unit ID: PAW-M06-U00 Estimated active time: 15-20 minutes

An example is worth a paragraph of description

Describing a format takes several sentences and is still ambiguous. Showing one is unambiguous.

This is the strongest single technique in the course, and it is also the easiest to overdo.

What examples are good at

Examples convey what is hard to state:

• layout and structure;
• level of detail;
• tone and sentence length;
• how much hedging is appropriate;
• what a good answer leaves out.

That last one is the surprise. A short example teaches restraint better than any instruction to be concise.

What examples are bad at

An example is also a constraint you did not intend to write.

Give one example and the output will often copy its shape closely — including its subject, its length, and any quirk it happened to have. If your example mentions three items, expect three items.

This is fine when you want consistency. It is a problem when you wanted range.

One example or several

HOW MANY EXAMPLES

Goal                          Use
---------------------------   ------------------------------------
consistent format             1 example, and say "match this format"
consistent tone               2 examples on different subjects
show a range                  3 examples that deliberately differ
teach a distinction           1 good + 1 bad, with why
avoid over-copying            say which parts to match and which to ignore

That last row is the one people forget. Without it, everything about the example is treated as instruction.

Say what to copy

> Match the structure and length of the example. Do not match its subject, its examples, or its opening line.

One sentence, and it prevents most of the over-copying problem.

Mini practice

Take a prompt that produces inconsistent output.

Add one example and the "match this, not that" line.

Run it three times and check whether the variation you wanted survived.

Mark complete