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Find the dismissive phrases in a reply and rewrite them
- For Managers and team leads
- You practice Getting the tone right
- Time about 5 minutes
- Level Intermediate
About this exercise
Find the three phrases in the reply that blame or dismiss the customer and output a table with the header "Phrase | Why | Rewrite" and three rows. Quote each phrase exactly as written. Each Why is under 8 words and each Rewrite under 12 words. Leave neutral phrases alone. Plain text, under 100 words.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Flagging neutral phrases. The AI marks 'Per our policy' as cold. Try: Say: "Leave neutral phrases alone."
- Changing the facts. The AI rewrites the policy away. Try: Say: "Keep the facts; fix only the tone."
- Paraphrasing the quotes. The AI doesn't quote exactly. Try: Say: "Quote each phrase exactly as written."
- 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. AI is bad at counting and usually runs long, so a vague "keep it short" lands well over the limit. Try: Cap each part instead of the total, for example "each line under 15 words".
What a strong prompt includes
- Gives the table header
- Says exact quotes
- Says to leave neutral phrases
- Asks for plain text
- Sets a length limit
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