Three-Sentence Homestay Application
Riku is writing a three-sentence self-introduction for a homestay application. The form says: 'Use complete sentences. Include one present perfect sentence with for or since, one because sentence, and one polite request.' His draft is: (1) 'I have joined the tennis club since I was ten.' (2) 'My favorite subject is English because I want to talk with people from other countries.' (3) 'Please tell me what should I bring to school.' His teacher marks three problems but does not explain them. Riku wants to keep his meaning: he became a tennis club member at age ten and still plays; he likes English for communication; he needs to know what to bring. He must also use the words in this jumbled line: interested / I / very / am / in / learning / about / other / cultures. The application is due tomorrow, and he can ask one friend for help.
1. Correct sentence (1) without changing Riku's meaning. Explain why 'have joined ... since' is not natural and give a corrected sentence.
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'I have joined the tennis club since I was ten' is unnatural because 'join' describes a single event, while 'since I was ten' describes a continuing state or habit. Riku needs a state expression: 'I have been in the tennis club since I was ten' or 'I have been a member of the tennis club since I was ten.' Both keep his meaning: he became a member at ten and still plays. Another correct option is 'I joined the tennis club when I was ten and still play there,' but that changes the required present-perfect pattern. For the form, the best correction is 'I have been a member of the tennis club since I was ten.'
2. Fix sentence (3) and explain the word-order rule for embedded questions.
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Correct sentence: 'Please tell me what I should bring to school.' The direct question would be 'What should I bring to school?' with subject-modal inversion. After 'Please tell me,' the clause is an embedded question, so it uses statement order: what + I + should + bring. The draft's 'what should I bring' keeps direct-question order. Also, 'to school' is fine because the form asks about school items; 'to the school' would sound more like a building. The polite frame 'Please tell me' already makes the request appropriate.
3. Arrange the jumbled words into a grammatical sentence that fits the application, and say whether it can replace sentence (2) or must be added.
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Arranged sentence: 'I am very interested in learning about other cultures.' It is grammatical: subject + be + adverb + adjective + preposition + gerund phrase. It should not simply replace sentence (2), because the form still requires a because-sentence and sentence (2) is the only one with because. It could be added, but that would make four sentences. The best solution is to combine it with sentence (2): 'My favorite subject is English because I am very interested in learning about other cultures and want to talk with people from other countries.' This keeps three sentences if the other two are corrected, uses the required because, and includes the jumbled line in a natural order.