You will move to a new city for work. You know some people who live there. Write a letter to someone you know who lives there. In your letter: - ask them for help in finding accommodation - tell them where you would like to live - tell them the type of place you are looking for
Sample Response
Dear Mr and MrsMr & Mrs Williams, You will be pleased to hearYou would be happy to hear that I have recently been offered a job in Brisbane and I will be moving to the South Bank area soonI would move into the South Bank area soon. It would be an absolute delight to live in your city as I would be able to see you oftenfrequently meet you. I would like to ask if you can help me find accommodationa living place before I arrive. I believe you could help me to find somewhere to livesomewhere to live in as you have a wide social circle. Ideally, I would like to live close to my workplace which happens to be in the Bank area in Brisbane. If this is not possible, my second preference is the downtown district. As I exercise regularlyAs I do exercise regularly, it would be great to be near a park too. Obviously, I will be looking for a flat, rather than a house, as it is just going to be me and I won’t be able to afford too much. So, a place with one bedroom is fine, but I would like to have a private bathroom and a kitchena private bathroom, a kitchen. I would prefer to live somewhere new, so anything in a modern apartment block would be great. I look forward to meeting you soon. Yours sincerely, Alan Martin
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response gives a clear request and develops every required point with useful detail about location and preferred accommodation. Its principal weakness is presentation: the entire body is compressed into one paragraph, while a few awkward collocations and punctuation errors reduce polish. Divide the request, preferred area, and property requirements into focused paragraphs, and refine phrases such as “living place” for more natural formal English.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter achieves its purpose and fully covers the request for help, preferred locations, and detailed accommodation requirements.
Clarify the apparent inconsistency between South Bank and the later reference to the Bank area so the preferred location is completely unambiguous.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas follow the prompt in a clear sequence and cohesive devices are used effectively, though the single body paragraph limits structural clarity.
Group the request, location preferences, and flat requirements into distinct paragraphs to make the organisation easier to scan.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and generally precise for housing and location, with only occasional awkward choices such as living place.
Replace less natural combinations with idiomatic alternatives such as accommodation or somewhere to live.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a good range of simple and complex sentences with generally accurate control and a few non-impeding errors.
Check tense choice and list punctuation, particularly in the opening sentence and the sentence listing a bathroom and kitchen.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You will move to a new city for work. You know some people who live there. Write a letter to someone you know who lives there. In your letter:
- ask them for help in finding accommodation
- tell them where you would like to live
- tell them the type of place you are looking for
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.