The Host Family Email: 25–35 Words and Politeness
Your school is sending you to a two-week homestay in Toyama. Your teacher gives this writing task: 'Send an email to your host family five days before you arrive. Write 25–35 words. Include (a) your arrival time at Toyama Station, and (b) one question about the first day. Use "I will" for your arrival and "Could you" for the question. Be polite; do not use "I want you to."' Your notes say: arrive at Toyama Station at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, July 26. You want to know whether you should bring a lunch for the first school day. A classmate shows you this draft: 'I arrive Toyama Station at 6:15 p.m. next Friday. I am hungry. Could you tell me dinner time? I want you to meet me.' You have 12 minutes to revise and explain.
1. Identify three problems in the classmate's draft, using the teacher's instructions and standard email grammar.
Read the worked answer
The draft is: 'I arrive Toyama Station at 6:15 p.m. next Friday. I am hungry. Could you tell me dinner time? I want you to meet me.'
Problems:
- Grammar: 'I arrive Toyama Station' needs 'I will arrive at Toyama Station.' The teacher requires 'I will' for the arrival, and 'arrive at' needs the preposition.
- Politeness/instruction: 'I want you to meet me' is the structure the teacher forbids. It sounds like an order. A polite request would be 'Could you meet me at the station?'
- Content and length: The draft is 24 words, below the 25-word minimum, and it does not ask the required question about the first day (whether to bring a lunch). 'I am hungry' and 'dinner time' are not the assigned question.
Any three of these are valid; the strongest are the missing 'will,' the forbidden 'I want you to,' and the missing first-day question.
2. Write your revised email. Then show your word count and explain how you kept it within 25–35 words while including both required points.
Read the worked answer
Revised email: 'I will arrive at Toyama Station at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, July 26. Could you tell me if I should bring a lunch for the first school day?'
Word count: I(1) will(2) arrive(3) at(4) Toyama(5) Station(6) at(7) 6:15(8) p.m.(9) on(10) Friday(11), July(12) 26(13). Could(14) you(15) tell(16) me(17) if(18) I(19) should(20) bring(21) a(22) lunch(23) for(24) the(25) first(26) school(27) day(28)? = 28 words.
That is within 25–35. It includes (a) the arrival time with 'I will' and (b) one first-day question with 'Could you.' I removed 'I am hungry' and 'I want you to meet me' because they are unnecessary or impolite, which kept the message short and focused.
3. Why is 'Could you tell me what time dinner is?' more appropriate than 'I want you to tell me dinner time'? Explain in terms of politeness, not grammar.
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'Could you...' is a conventional indirect request. It gives the other person a choice to say no and does not assume the right to give orders.
'I want you to...' states a demand directly; in a host-family email, it can sound like a command from a guest, especially because the host is doing you a favor.
The indirect question also makes the sentence more natural: 'what time dinner is' embeds the question inside the request, while 'tell me dinner time' is missing the natural phrase 'what time dinner is.' Politeness here is about not imposing, not about using difficult words.