Context, Examples & Follow-ups

Yesterday you learned to say clearly what you want. Today is about giving the assistant what it needs to do it well: the real material, examples of what good looks like, and feedback until the answer is right.

Give it the material

The assistant only knows what's in the conversation (plus its general knowledge). If your request depends on a document, email or notes, paste them in and label them so it's clear what's what:

Below is an email from my landlord. Write a polite reply that agrees to the inspection on Thursday but asks to move it from 9am to after 4pm because I work mornings.
 
Landlord's email:
"""
Hi, we need to carry out the annual gas safety inspection. The engineer can come on Thursday at 9am. Please confirm this works. Thanks, Sam
"""

The """ marks are just a clear way to show where the pasted text starts and ends. Headings like "Email:" or "My notes:" work too.

Show, don't just tell: examples

Describing a style is hard. Showing it is easy. Give one to three examples, and the assistant will follow the pattern:

I write short descriptions for my handmade candle shop. Here are two I like:
 
Example 1: "Fresh linen and a hint of lemon. Like opening the windows on the first warm day of spring. Ready to brighten your kitchen?"
 
Example 2: "Smoky cedar and soft vanilla. A cosy cabin in a jar for long winter evenings. Who's lighting the fire tonight?"
 
Write descriptions in the same style for these three new candles:
1. sea salt and sage
2. orange and clove
3. fig and black tea

This works for anything with a pattern: social media posts, meeting summaries, product names, quiz questions, replies to customers.

Let the assistant ask you questions

Not sure what details matter? Ask the assistant to interview you first:

I want to plan a 4-day trip to Lisbon in May. Before you suggest anything, ask me the questions you need answered to make the plan fit me. Ask them all at once.

Answer its questions in one reply, and the plan you get will fit your budget, pace and interests instead of being a generic tourist list.

Improve the answer with follow-ups

The first answer is a draft. Specific feedback gets you a much better second version:

A useful pattern is keep / change / add: say what to keep, what to change and what's missing.

Recap

• Paste the material the answer depends on, clearly labelled, with private details removed.
• Show examples to get a matching style or format; one to three is usually enough.
• Ask the assistant to ask you questions first when you're not sure what it needs.
• Treat the first answer as a draft; give specific follow-ups: keep, change, add.
• Use a new chat for a new task, or when a long chat gets muddled.

Tomorrow you'll put this to work on everyday writing: emails, rewrites and proofreading.