Writing: A Host-Family Email Under a Word Limit
Haruto must write an email of 55-70 words to his host family in Australia before his exchange. The greeting and closing are not counted towards the limit. The rubric requires four content points: thank them for hosting him; say his flight now lands at 3:40 p.m., not 1:10 p.m.; ask whether he should take the train or wait at the airport; apologise for the short notice. Points are awarded for all four points, for a clear question and for grammar, and the tone should be polite but not stiff. A classmate's draft reads: 'Dear Mr and Mrs Clark, Thank you for hosting me. I am looking forward to see you. My flight changed and I will arrive to Sydney at 3:40 p.m. instead of 1:10 p.m. I will take the train if it is convenient for you. Sorry for the short notice. Yours, Haruto.'
1. Diagnose the problems in the classmate's draft before writing anything.
Read the worked answer
Four problems, of which one is about task completion rather than grammar. (i) Length and content: the body is roughly 44 words, under the 55-word minimum, and the required question is missing. (ii) Pattern error: 'look forward to' takes a noun or a gerund, so 'I am looking forward to seeing you', never 'to see'. (iii) Preposition error: 'arrive in Sydney' for a city, 'arrive at' for a point such as the airport; 'arrive to' is not used. (iv) The question point fails: 'I will take the train if it is convenient for you' states a plan instead of asking, and 'convenient for you' is ambiguous - convenient for them to meet him, or convenient for him to travel alone? The rubric awards nothing here. The greeting and closing are fine. Note the pattern: the draft is not full of grammar disasters; it fails because one content point was answered with a statement instead of a question and the word count was never checked.
2. Write a compliant email and state its body word count. Explain two wording choices you made.
Read the worked answer
Dear Mr and Mrs Clark,
Thank you very much for inviting me to stay with you. My flight has been changed, so I now arrive in Sydney at 3:40 p.m. instead of 1:10 p.m. Would you prefer me to take the train, or should I wait for you at the airport? I am very sorry for the short notice and hope this is not too much trouble.
Best wishes, Haruto
Body count: 62 words (Thank you very much for inviting me to stay with you = 11; My flight ... 1:10 p.m. = 19; Would you prefer ... airport? = 17; I am very sorry ... trouble = 15). Two choices. First, 'I now arrive in Sydney at 3:40 p.m.' uses the present simple for a timetable, and 'arrive in' is the correct preposition with a city; the cleaner alternative 'I will arrive' is also acceptable, but one form should be used consistently. Second, the question is in the form 'Would you prefer me to ... or should I ...?', which offers two clear options and makes the host family's answer easy, satisfying the 'clear question' criterion. 'Instead of' replaces 'not' because it signals a change from earlier information rather than a simple negative.