---
id: con-examples-in-prompts
schema: concept/1
layer: garden
status: established
name: Examples in prompts
aka: ["few-shot prompting", "show, don't tell", "sample outputs", "reference examples"]
summary: >
  Showing the AI one or more samples of what you want, such as a past email or a filled-in table,
  so it can match the pattern you show it.
first_seen: "2020"
relations:
  builds_on: [con-prompting]
  evolved_from: []
  related: [con-ai-writing-tells]
  parallels:
    - idea: "worked examples"
      field: "teaching"
      note: "Students learn a method faster from a solved problem than from a description of the method."
    - idea: "showing a freelancer samples of past work"
      field: "creative services"
implementations: []
competencies: [cmp-describe-the-task]
origin:
  kind: ai-proposed
  by: "seed agent 2026-10-16"
  rationale: "One of the most reliable, durable techniques; also the best fix for bland, generic AI writing."
---

Describing a style is hard. "Friendly but professional" means different things to different people, and to an AI. Showing a sample is much more precise. If you paste in two past emails that landed well and say "write the next one like these", the AI picks up length, tone, structure and vocabulary all at once.

Examples work for formats too. Give one completed row of a table and ask it to fill the rest the same way. Give one good meeting summary and ask for this week's in the same shape.

Watch for two problems. The AI may copy your examples too closely, including their specific details, so say what should change. And one example can be over-learned; two or three varied ones show the pattern better than one.

## Example

A development director wants donor thank-you notes that sound like her. She pastes three notes she wrote by hand, says "same warmth and length, but use these new donor details", and the drafts need only light edits.

## How it connects

- A simple upgrade to basic **prompting**.
- The strongest remedy for **AI writing tells**, because it anchors the AI to real human writing.
- Saved examples are a core ingredient in **skills** and **custom instructions**.

## Try it

Find one piece of your own writing you're proud of. Write down two qualities you hope the AI will copy. Paste it as an example with a new task, then check whether it kept those two qualities.