Avoid This Word When Starting a Prompt in ChatGPT — It Sabotages the Quality of Responses

Written by Felipe Alves da Silva

Published on 03/08/2025 at 20:03

Evitar iniciar prompts com “explique” ativa o potencial criativo da inteligência artificial, resultando em respostas mais estratégicas e personalizadas.

58 pessoas reagiram a isso.

Have You Ever Felt That ChatGPT Answered Superficially, Repetitively, or Even Too Obviously? If So, Know That the Problem May Not Be with the Artificial Intelligence Model, But with the Way You Structured Your Question.

There is a word, quite common, that thousands of users use every day when starting their commands — and that, without realizing it, activates the AI’s “automatic mode.” The result? An impersonal, predictable, and poorly strategic text.

This word is “explain”.

Simply asking ChatGPT to “explain” something puts it in an encyclopedic position: it starts to return generic definitions, as if it were reciting an entry from Wikipedia. And while this works for quick or school-related questions, it’s far from being the best path for those seeking more creative, applicable, and context-aligned answers.

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What to Do Instead of “Explain”?

The solution is simple, but it requires a change of approach. The secret lies in providing context, taking on a role, or proposing a challenge right at the beginning of the prompt.

Here are some practical examples:

Instead of: “Explain how to increase productivity in a home office”
Use: “I am writing a practical guide on productivity for those working from home. What strategies would you suggest, based on data, high-performance habits, and common distractions?”
Instead of: “Explain what artificial intelligence is”
Use: “Consider that you are a university professor explaining artificial intelligence to beginner business students. How would you present the concept in a simple and relevant way?”
Instead of: “Explain the difference between fixed and variable income”
Use: “Act as an investment advisor explaining to a client who has never invested before. What is the practical difference between fixed income and variable income?”

Why Does This Work?

AI models like ChatGPT have been trained with billions of examples of human language — and that includes forums, books, tutorials, and a lot of generic content. When you just say “explain,” the system tends to revert to the most common and neutral pattern it knows.

On the other hand, when you insert a scenario, an audience, or a practical need, the AI starts to seek more creative and personalized pathways. This not only improves the quality of the response but also makes the content more applicable to your goal.

Tips for Structuring More Powerful Prompts

Start with a role: “You are a project manager with 10 years of experience…”
Provide a real context: “I am putting together a presentation for a sales team…”
Present a specific challenge: “I want to convince my team to adopt a new tool…”
Define the format of the response: “Break down the explanation into three topics, with practical examples…”

Avoiding the verb “explain” at the beginning of your prompts may seem like a small detail, but this adjustment makes all the difference. By proposing richer scenarios and clearer objectives, you activate what is best in artificial intelligence: its ability for adaptive reasoning, contextual creativity, and strategic delivery.

If you want to turn AI into a real ally — whether for studying, working, or making decisions — start by changing how you converse with it.

Replace “explain” with “imagine,” “consider,” “act as” — and watch ChatGPT show what it is truly capable of doing.

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Clovis

#228838

24/01/2026 14:22

Gostaria de mais exemplos de prompts para IA , como para elaborar a construção de uma casa por exemplo.

Responder

Gulf family visa matches

#154252

03/08/2025 20:04

Gulf restaurant shaadi serves food service workers.

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Avoid This Word When Starting a Prompt in ChatGPT — It Sabotages the Quality of Responses

Have You Ever Felt That ChatGPT Answered Superficially, Repetitively, or Even Too Obviously? If So, Know That the Problem May Not Be with the Artificial Intelligence Model, But with the Way You Structured Your Question.

Major Oil, Gas, and Energy Event Will Take Place in Brazil: Macaé Energy Will Gather Petrobras, Equinor, Prio, Among Other Suppliers and Energy Executives for Business, Networking, and Employment Opportunities

What to Do Instead of “Explain”?

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Tips for Structuring More Powerful Prompts

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Avoid This Word When Starting a Prompt in ChatGPT — It Sabotages the Quality of Responses

Have You Ever Felt That ChatGPT Answered Superficially, Repetitively, or Even Too Obviously? If So, Know That the Problem May Not Be with the Artificial Intelligence Model, But with the Way You Structured Your Question.

Major Oil, Gas, and Energy Event Will Take Place in Brazil: Macaé Energy Will Gather Petrobras, Equinor, Prio, Among Other Suppliers and Energy Executives for Business, Networking, and Employment Opportunities

What to Do Instead of “Explain”?

Why Does This Work?

Tips for Structuring More Powerful Prompts

At just 14 years old, a boy creates a system without energy, using steel pipes buried in the ground, that irrigates seedlings with moisture from the air, to combat the water scarcity threatening reforestation in northern China.

Where there was only sand and wind at 40 degrees, China built a megacity of 500,000 inhabitants with farms, wineries, and universities in the middle of the desert using melted glacier water from hundreds of kilometers away.

At over 8,800 meters above sea level, the summit of Mount Everest is made up of rocks that originated at the bottom of an ocean about 500 million years ago and were pushed to the highest point on Earth by the collision of tectonic plates.

A couple builds a system to bring water from the spring to their land, climbs a hill with materials on their backs, and creates a simple, cheap, and sustainable solution to ensure their own water supply.

The end of total solar eclipses has a deadline: the Moon is moving away from the Earth at about 3.8 cm per year, and in approximately 600 million years, it will no longer completely cover the Sun, ending one of the rarest coincidences in the Solar System.

With 40% of all the gold on the planet buried in a single geological basin that is 2.7 billion years old in South Africa, the Witwatersrand still hides R$ 3 trillion in unreachable reserves.

In the depths of the African forest, these rare and terrifying native species dominate rivers, swamps, and treetops with venom, brute strength, lethal teeth, and behaviors that seem impossible in the heart of the wild.

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Engineer explains drainage during the rainy season: the difference between surface water and deep water, ditches, gutters, and water outlets on the road, as well as drains and drainage mattresses, to prevent erosion, aquaplaning, and flooding at the construction site today.

From space, Buenos Aires appears as a colossal spot of light surrounded by kilometers of darkness, revealing at a single glance the exact boundary between the metropolis and the countryside, seen from 400 km altitude.

NASA spent over 118 million reais to build a single bathroom that works in zero gravity, and it has just gone to space on the first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years.