A 30-Word Email to Emma: Writing Under Conditions
Your name is Haruka. You are a second-year student at a Niigata high school. Next month, a student from Australia, Emma, will stay with your family for one week. Your teacher asks you to send Emma an email in English before she comes.
Conditions:
- Write 25 to 35 words.
- Introduce two things about your school life.
- Ask Emma one question about food.
- Use the word 'because' once.
- Begin with 'Dear Emma,' and end with 'Haruka.'
You want to tell her that you play tennis after school and that you like cooking. You also want to know if she can eat raw fish, because your family plans to make sushi. You are not sure whether the greeting and signature count in the word limit; in this task, count every word you write, including 'Dear,' 'Emma,' and 'Haruka.'
1. Write the email. State your word count and check each condition.
Read the worked answer
Model email:
Dear Emma, I play tennis after school, and I like cooking. My family wants to make sushi, but can you eat raw fish? I ask because we want you to enjoy dinner. Haruka
Word count: 33 words, counting 'Dear,' 'Emma,' and 'Haruka' as the task requires. Conditions check: two school-life things (tennis, cooking); one food question (can you eat raw fish?); 'because' used once; greeting and signature present; 33 is between 25 and 35. The sentence 'I ask because...' makes the reason for the question explicit, which is clearer than putting 'because' before the question.
2. A classmate writes: 'Dear Emma, I want to know if you can eat raw fish because my family will make sushi. Please answer. Haruka.' Does this meet the conditions? Explain two problems.
Read the worked answer
The classmate's email has a greeting, a signature, a food question, and 'because.' But it fails two conditions. First, it does not introduce two things about school life; it only talks about food. Second, it is too short: counting every word, it is 21 words, below the 25-word minimum. The indirect question 'I want to know if...' is grammatically possible, but it does not fix the missing school-life content or the word count. The judgement is to check every condition separately, not just the ones that are easy to see.