Explicit Negative Constraints
“Explicit Negative Constraints” is a short 8-minute practice from Zayenha Practice in the Digital & AI domain. State explicitly what you do not want in the output (words, styles, assumptions) to cut later editing. You can read its goal and first step for free; the full practice with every step and the interactive part comes with Plus.
State explicitly what you do not want in the output (words, styles, assumptions) to cut later editing.
Goal
Cut cliches and unwanted assumptions by banning them explicitly in the prompt.
Steps
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1
Review the last bad output and extract 3 things that annoyed you (word, tone, assumption).
Expected Outcome
Evidence base
School: Prompt Constraints / Output Control
Founders: Anthropic Research Team · OpenAI Cookbook (2024)
Anthropic's prompting guide recommends explicit negative phrasing to raise constraint adherence and reduce stylistic drift.
Keywords
Frequently asked questions
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