Writing an Apology That Does Not Overpromise
You must write a short formal email in Polish to a community choir director, Pani Nowak. You agreed to sing at a charity concert on Saturday but your employer has just scheduled a mandatory shift. You cannot attend. Constraints: the email must be 60-90 words, formal (Pan/Pani forms), must apologize, must explain briefly, must propose a concrete remedy, and must not promise something you cannot guarantee. You know another singer, Tomek, might be free but you have not asked him yet.
1. Draft the key sentences and explain how your wording avoids overpromising.
Read the worked answer
A strong draft uses 'bardzo przepraszam, ale niestety nie będę mógł wystąpić w sobotę' and a brief reason: 'pracodawca wyznaczył mi obowiązkową zmianę'. For the remedy, avoid 'Tomek mnie zastąpi'; instead write 'mogę zapytać Tomka, czy byłby gotów mnie zastąpić, i dam Pani znać jeszcze dziś'. The difference matters: the first asserts a fact you do not know, the second commits only to an action you control (asking and reporting back). Use 'Pani' consistently and close with 'Z poważaniem'. This shows register control and epistemic honesty.
2. How would you check the word count and register without breaking the flow?
Read the worked answer
Count whitespace-delimited words and remember that a hyphenated form or a name counts as one. Register is checked by scanning for second-person singular forms: 'Pani' plus third-person verbs ('czy byłaby Pani') rather than 'jesteś'. A quick pass for 'ty' forms and colloquialisms like 'sorry' or 'spoko' prevents the most common register slips. The judgement is prioritising the two highest-risk errors - overpromising and informal address - over stylistic polish.