Unit 1.3: Task first, politeness optional
Put the request at the start, keep the greeting short, and the AI never misses what you want.
We Sri Lankans are polite people. In a letter to an office, we start with "Dear Sir / Madam, I wish to bring to your kind attention…", and that is right for a person. When I see students write the same way to an AI, the task ends up in the fourth line, after a story about who they are.
An AI is not offended by a short message. It reads every word, and the words at the start matter most.
AI එකට කාරුණිකව කතා කරන එක වැරදි නෑ. please කියන්න පුළුවන්. ඒත් "Good morning, I hope you are fine, I am a student from Matara and…" කියලා දිග ආචාරයක් දැම්මොත් ඉල්ලීම යට වෙනවා. ඉතින් පිළිවෙළ මතක තියාගන්න: මුලින්ම කරන්න ඕන දේ, ඊට පස්සේ විස්තර, අන්තිමට ඕන නම් thanks.
People and AI need different openings
| To a person (a letter, an email) | To an AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Dear Mr Perera, / Good morning, | Verb: Write…, Explain…, Check… |
| Middle | Who you are, why you write | One or two details |
| End | Thank you, Yours faithfully | (Thanks!) or nothing |
You still need the polite letter. In Level 4, the AI will help you write it. But your request to the AI starts with the task.
Short and polite
- Please rewrite this paragraph in simple English.
- Write a short reply to this email. Thanks!
- Fix the mistakes in my Fiverr gig description.
- Could you explain this bank form in Sinhala?
"Could you…?" and "Can you…?" are fine too. They are polite, and the verb (explain) still comes in the first three words.
Before and after
In your world
Quick check
Tap an answer. Nothing is saved.
Which request is better for an AI?
Is it fine to start with "Please"?
Which one tells the AI exactly what to send back?
Your turn
Your turn
Saved on this device only.
Think of a time you wrote a long polite message to get something done. Now write it for an AI: task first, one or two details, and a "please" or "thanks" only if you want.
Score it: 0, 1 or 2 for each.
Clarity
AI එකට කරන්න ඕන දේ පැහැදිලිද?
Completeness
අවශ්ය විස්තර ඔක්කොම තියෙනවද?
Structure
කොටස් හරි පිළිවෙළටද?
Internationally clear
ලංකාවෙන් පිට කෙනෙක්ටත් තේරෙනවද?
Total: 0 / 8
Side quest
Ask an AI to turn your short request into a polite letter for a person:
Short to the AI, polite to people: the AI does the polite part for you.
Next: Unit 1.4: Add some context
Finished this one? Tick it off. It is saved on this device only.