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I have done some prompt engineering and read about prompt engineering, and I believe people write in the imperative mood because they have tried different ways
by Name_Chawps 3y ago
I have done some prompt engineering and read about prompt engineering, and I believe people write in the imperative mood because they have tried different ways of doing it and they believe it gives better results.
I.e., this practice is informed by trial and error, not theory.
- jameshart 3y agoThey’re not writing in the imperative mood. An imperative prompt would read: Be an ai chatbot Be kind and helpful and patient … But at that point the text prediction would probably devolve into 4chan green text nonsense so it’s probably best not to go there.
- jameshart 3y agoAnd to complete the thought: The ‘You are an AI chatbot’ form is actually grammatically ‘predicative’, not ‘imperative’ (ie it describes what is not what must be done)
- heyjamesknight 3y agoIsn’t it Indicative, not Imperative?
- jameshart 3y agoGood point - indicative is a better term since it is a grammatical ‘mood’, same as imperative.