You have a friend who lives in a different country. You will organise a party soon and have thought to use a foreign recipe. Write a letter to the friend asking for a recipe from his/her country for the party you are organizing. In your letter: - tell your friend about the party - ask for the recipe - explain why you need the recipe from his/her country
Sample Response
Dear Neha, Hope you're doing great. I still miss spendingmy time with your children who are so adorable and friendlyamiable. I must say I had a great time with you last summer. Today I'm writing to ask you for a recipe that I'm planning to include on the party menuin a party menu. Last month I moved to a new apartment in Utica, a city in the Mohawk Valley, New York, and I plan to inviteI have plans to invite some friends and neighbours to a party I'm thinking of holdingparty I'm thinking to hold in September. It will beIt'd be a dinner party and I'll invite around 25 guests. Many of my friends are from India and I'm planning to add a special Indian dishspecial Indian food item.
I'm so fond of your Hyderabadi Biryani, you make it really special, and would like you to provide me with the recipe. I've tried it several times but never had a glimpse of the magnificent aroma and taste that you can bring to it. Would you please send me detailed instructions, an ingredient listingredient list and the cooking method you usecooking method you employ for the deliciouscelestial Hyderabadi Biryani you make? I want to give the Indian guests a fabulous dining experienceexperience of the dinner and invite some neighbours to taste it and see howtaste it to give an impression of how Indian cuisinecuisines can win their stomachs and heartsstomach and heart! Warm wishes, Raima
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter achieves its friendly purpose particularly well, covering the party, the requested recipe, and the reason for choosing Indian food with engaging, specific detail. Its main limitation is that some ambitious wording and long sentence structures sound unnatural or become loosely controlled. The highest-priority improvement is to express the request and its motivation in more idiomatic, concise language while retaining the warm personal tone.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are fully developed, and the warm informal tone suits a letter to a friend.
Make the reason for serving this particular national dish slightly more direct and concise to sharpen the communicative focus.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from the party arrangements to the recipe request, although the two dense body paragraphs contain some overlong sentences.
Separate the party details, recipe request, and explanation into clearer paragraph units and shorten the final sentence.
Lexical Resource
A wide and engaging vocabulary is used, but several ambitious combinations such as "glimpse of the magnificent aroma" and "Indian cuisines" are not fully natural.
Prioritise precise, idiomatic collocations over ornate expressions, for example describing recreating the dish's aroma and flavour.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter shows a good range of complex structures, with occasional punctuation, article, and sentence-control lapses that do not impede meaning.
Check long coordinated sentences for comma splices and add missing determiners in phrases such as "an ingredient list".
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have a friend who lives in a different country. You will organise a party soon and have thought to use a foreign recipe. Write a letter to the friend asking for a recipe from his/her country for the party you are organizing. In your letter:
- tell your friend about the party
- ask for the recipe
- explain why you need the recipe from his/her country
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.