A friend you met last year has invited you to visit them in their country. You have never been there before and need some information before you leave. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - request advice about a gift for his/her family - ask about activities and clothing - find out about the food
Sample Response
Dear Robert,
DeleteHi there, I hope you’re enjoying your college year. Thanks very much for asking me to come and visit you in Singapore. As you know, I haven’t travelled to Asia before, so I thoughtthough I’d write and ask you a few questions.
I want to bring a present with me and I wondered what would be appropriate. Perhaps you could let me know what your mum’s hobbies are and then I could come up with an idea based on one of them.
Also, what sort of clothes should I bring? I know it’s pretty warm where you live, butwarm where you live but do I need jumpers or a coat? Whatwhat sort of activities are we likely to do while I’m there and should I bring things like swimming gear or trainers?trainers.
Lastly, I hate to be a nuisancebe nuisance but I hope you remember that I’m vegetarian. I do eat fish and eggs but I don’t eat red meat orand chicken at all. Is that going to be a problem?
I look forward to hearing from youLook forward to hearing from you.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter has a natural, friendly tone and handles every bullet point directly, using focused paragraphs and relevant questions about the gift, clothing, activities, and dietary needs. Its main limitations are a handful of proofreading errors and the relatively narrow exploration of local food beyond vegetarian requirements. Prioritise correcting small sentence-level slips and asking one more specific question about what food will be available.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is fully achieved in a consistently friendly tone, with all requested information covered clearly and relevantly.
Strengthen the food enquiry by asking about typical dishes or suitable vegetarian options in addition to stating dietary needs.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter progresses smoothly, with each paragraph focused on a distinct request and cohesive devices used effectively.
Refine the transition into the activities question so the sequence within that paragraph feels completely seamless.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible, natural, and appropriate for an informal letter, with only isolated imprecision.
Proofread word choice and fixed expressions carefully, including the missing article in “be a nuisance.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of sentence forms is handled accurately overall, with only occasional punctuation, capitalisation, and typing errors.
Correct minor slips such as “though” for “thought” and capitalise the question beginning with “what.”
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A friend you met last year has invited you to visit them in their country. You have never been there before and need some information before you leave. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- request advice about a gift for his/her family
- ask about activities and clothing
- find out about the food
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.