Prompt Engineering Fundamentals
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Correct answer: C. Misspellings in the keywords that define the task can lead to poor performance
Explanation
The principle — Before assuming a task is beyond the model, check that the prompt says what you think it says. The cheapest faults are mechanical.
Why the key is correct — Google's checklist opens with writing issues and tells you to check the keywords that define the task, giving "sumarize" instead of "summarize" as its example, because misspellings can lead to poor performance. A mangled task verb quietly weakens the instruction that everything else depends on.
Why the others are wrong — Nothing is rejected or dropped, which is exactly why the fault survives. Undefined jargon is a separate checklist item. And restating a misspelled instruction adds redundancy to the original problem.
Remember this — Reread the prompt before blaming the model. Start with the verbs.
Sources — Google Cloud, Overview of prompting strategies.
Sources
“Check keywords that define the task (for example, sumarize instead of summarize), technical terms, or names of entities, as misspellings can lead to poor performance.”
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