Writing the Best Prompt: Using the Right Tone
Learn how tone, style, and context shape AI responses. See real examples of sarcastic, journalistic, and passionate prompts — and how to get exactly the content you need from ChatGPT.
What is the best prompt?
The best prompt is simply the one that helps you get the kind of content you want, whether it’s for creative writing, for an article, a blog, a webpage, a tutorial, etc.
Just as the way you speak and your body language influence your interlocutor’s perception, the choice of tone is essential when interacting with an AI like Chat GPT.
I mean, you would not answer the same way a bodybuilder on the beach, a librarian in a bookstore or a friend on her birthday party would, right? Well, you can consider that Chat GPT is just a blank page that feeds on context and instructions to actually understand what you want.
Examples of tones
Let’s take a simple task — “Write a short paragraph about remote work” — and see how different tones produce completely different results.
Sarcastic tone
Prompt: “Write a short paragraph about remote work. Use a sarcastic tone.”
Result: “Ah yes, remote work — the magical land where your commute is ten steps to the kitchen, your dress code is ‘whatever’s clean-ish,’ and your boss thinks you’re in deep focus when you’re actually watching a cat video. But hey, at least you saved on gas.”
Journalistic and witty
Prompt: “Write a short paragraph about remote work. Use a journalistic and witty tone.”
Result: “Remote work has quietly rewritten the rules of modern employment. According to recent surveys, over 60% of knowledge workers now split their time between home and office — a shift that would have seemed radical just five years ago. The corner office, it turns out, was never the point. Productivity was.”
Passionate
Prompt: “Write a short paragraph about remote work. Use a passionate, enthusiastic tone.”
Result: “Remote work isn’t just a trend — it’s a revolution! Imagine waking up every morning knowing you can design your own schedule, work from anywhere in the world, and still deliver incredible results. The freedom, the flexibility, the sheer potential — this is the future of work, and it’s already here!”
With these three examples, we can see very different responses, approaches and personalities. By setting the right tone, we finally get very human-like answers.
In addition to the examples above — sarcastic, journalistic and witty, or passionate — there are plenty of different tones you can use to get the content that you want: cheerful, dry, assertive, persuasive, regretful, etc.
Examples of styles
You can also use different “styles” to get specific content that can be attributed to a public personality or someone you want Chat GPT to impersonate.
William Shakespeare
Prompt: “Explain remote work in the style of William Shakespeare.”
Result: “Hark! What labour through yonder window breaks? ‘Tis the worker, toiling from his humble chamber, free from the chains of the dreaded commute. No carriage nor steed doth he require — only a glowing screen and a connection most wi-fi. Forsooth, the office is dead. Long live the home office!”
C3PO
Prompt: “Explain remote work in the style of C-3PO from Star Wars.”
Result: “Oh my! It appears that humans have adopted a most peculiar arrangement called ‘remote work.’ If my calculations are correct — and they usually are — this involves completing one’s professional duties from a residential unit rather than a centralized workspace. Most irregular, if you ask me, but the probability of increased satisfaction is approximately 73.6%. How delightful!”
These style-based prompts are a fun way to explore creative writing with AI, but they also have a practical purpose: they show how much control you have over the output simply by adjusting your instructions.
What about context?
Context is equally important in steering AI in the right direction and obtaining quality content. From providing examples, to explaining step by step what you expect, who you are and what you are going to use this content for, there are plenty of ways you can provide context.
Here is a practical example of a context-rich prompt:
Prompt: “I’m a marketing manager writing a LinkedIn post for our SaaS product launch. Our audience is mid-level professionals aged 28–45. Write a 150-word post that’s professional but approachable, highlights the time-saving benefits, and ends with a clear call to action.”
The more context you give, the better the result. Think of it as briefing a colleague — the clearer the brief, the less back and forth you need.
In another article, we take a closer look at the notion of context for LLMs (Large Language Models) to fully understand this topic.
Conclusion
Even if GPT Workspace allows you to automatically consider the existing content of the page, sheet or slide you’re currently on, you still need to refine it with the right approach. Try, test and edit your prompt, again and again, until you finally get the result you had been hoping for. Good luck!
Start writing better prompts today. Install GPT Workspace and use AI with tone and context controls directly in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Gmail.
