English · Email Writing
Email to Your Foreign Friend About Your Country
A model email introducing Bangladesh to a foreign friend, with the header fields.
Because the reader knows nothing about the country, begin with the plain facts — where it is, how large, how many people — then move to what makes it distinctive: the rivers, the Sundarbans, the language movement, the food. Close by inviting your friend to visit, and keep the register friendly rather than encyclopaedic.
The question: Write an email to your foreign friend about your country.
The format
Orient before you describe
Your reader knows nothing. The first two sentences must give location, size and population, because every later sentence depends on them. An email that opens on a festival has skipped the orientation.
- Compare the size to somewhere your reader knows.
- Give the population as a round figure.
- 🚨 Assume no prior knowledge at all.
Choose four things and group them
Geography, one natural feature, one historical fact, one everyday thing. Four explained beats twelve listed, and grouping them stops the paragraph becoming a catalogue.
- The rivers and the delta explain much of the rest.
- 1971 or the language movement is the historical fact most worth one sentence.
- ⚠️ Do not attempt a survey of the whole culture.
Invite them, and name a month
Close with an invitation and the best time to come. It is the natural ending and it gives the email a practical last line.
Model answer
Model answer (about 145 words)
Subject: A short introduction to Bangladesh
Dear Emily,
Thank you for your last email. You asked me to tell you about Bangladesh, which is a large question, so here is a beginning.
We are a small country with a great many people — about 170 million in an area smaller than England and Scotland together. Almost all of it is delta: three great rivers meet here and the land is flat, green and criss-crossed with water, which is why so much of life is arranged around boats and the monsoon. In the south-west is the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and the last home of the Royal Bengal tiger. What I would want you to know first, though, is that we fought a war in 1971 to speak our own language and be our own country. Come and see it. February is the best month.
Best wishes,
Sadia
What earns and loses marks
- Compare sizes to something your reader knows. “Smaller than England and Scotland together” conveys the density instantly; a figure in square kilometres does not.
- Write about 120 to 150 words in the body. An email answer of 250 words has usually become a letter with a subject line on top.
- 🚨 Do not add your postal address anywhere. That is the single clearest sign that a letter answer has been reused for an email question.
- Keep the subject line and the first sentence consistent — if the subject says one thing and the message opens on another, the answer looks assembled rather than written.
- Sign with your name only; no designation, no address, no phone number in an informal email.
Frequently Asked Questions
Almost nothing. Begin with location, size and population, then move to what is distinctive. Assuming knowledge is the commonest failing in this question — an email that opens with the significance of Pahela Baishakh has skipped the orientation the reader needs.
Three or four things, developed: the geography, one natural feature such as the Sundarbans, something historical such as 1971 or the language movement, and something everyday such as food or festivals. Four things explained beats twelve listed.
Yes — it is the natural close and it gives the email an ending that is not simply a summary. Adding a practical note, such as which month is best to come, turns a polite invitation into a real one and costs half a sentence.
Keep going
Model answers, formats and grammar rules for every SSC and HSC writing question.