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Rewrite an idiom-heavy email for a reader learning English

  • For Customer success managers
  • You practice Getting the tone right
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Beginner

About this exercise

Rewrite the email for Tomas, who is learning English. Put the action first. Use short sentences of 11 words or fewer and no idioms or slang (not "circle back", "touch base", "move the needle", "low-hanging fruit", "ballpark", "hit the ground running", "ping" or "EOD"). Start with "Hi Tomas," and end with "Mei". Plain text, under 55 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Keeping the idioms. The AI keeps "touch base" or "hit the ground running". Try: Say: "No idioms or slang; list the ones to avoid."
  • Burying the action. The AI keeps the original order, with the list at the end. Try: Say: "Put the action first."
  • Vague deadline. The AI keeps "EOD Thursday". Try: Say: "Write the exact date and time: Thursday Nov 12, 5:00pm."
  • Getting markdown back. AI adds bold and headings by default, which show up as stray symbols where this is pasted. Try: Say "plain text, no bold, no headings, no asterisks".
  • Trusting the AI to count words. The AI runs long and cannot count its own words. Try: Cap each part ("each line under 12 words") and add "under N words in total".

What a strong prompt includes

  • Greeting and sign-off
  • Action first
  • Bans idioms
  • Short sentences
  • Asks for plain text
  • Sets a word cap

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