Anthropic's Prompt Engineering Interactive Tutorial · Lesson 2
Being Clear and Direct
The Golden Rule of Prompting, how to eliminate preambles, and how to make Claude commit to a single answer instead of hedging.
Practical exercise
What to do after this lesson
Rewrite the vague prompt 'Tell me about Paris' so Claude gives a three-bullet answer about tourist attractions without any introduction. Compare both responses.
Ready-to-use prompt
Template for this lesson
Copy and adapt to your context. Text in angle brackets should be replaced.
Task: [SPECIFIC ACTION VERB] + [EXACT OBJECT] Format: [BULLET LIST / NUMBERED / PARAGRAPH — pick one] Length: [WORD COUNT or SENTENCE COUNT] Skip: any preamble or introduction Tone: [FORMAL / CASUAL / TECHNICAL] Output only the result.
Common mistakes
What people get wrong
- Vague verbs ('discuss', 'tell me about') — better: 'list', 'explain in 3 steps'.
- Not specifying format — Claude picks one, often not what you want.
- Not prohibiting preamble — Claude will add 'Here is...' or 'Certainly!'.
Pro tips
What works but no one documents
- 'Skip the preamble' or 'Go straight into' removes unnecessary introductions.