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 my time with your children who are so adorable and amiable. 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 in a party menu. Last month I moved to a new apartment in Utica, a city in the Mohawk Valley, New York, and I have plans to invite some friends and neighbours to a party I'm thinking to hold in September. It'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 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, ingredient list and cooking method you employ for the celestial Hyderabadi Biryani you make? I want to give the Indian guests a fabulous experience of the dinner and invite some neighbours to taste it to give an impression of how Indian cuisines can win their stomach and heart! Warm wishes, Raima
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Separate the salutation Original: Dear Neha, Hope Suggested revision: Dear Neha, Hope Why it matters: The greeting should be separated from the opening sentence in a letter.
- 2. Use gerund after thinking Original: party I'm thinking to hold Suggested revision: party I'm thinking of holding Why it matters: The standard construction is “think of” followed by a gerund.
- 3. Use a natural collocation Original: special Indian food item Suggested revision: special Indian dish Why it matters: “Indian dish” is more natural and precise than “Indian food item” here.
- 4. Add the article Original: ingredient list Suggested revision: an ingredient list Why it matters: The singular countable noun needs an article in this list.
- 5. Avoid exaggerated wording Original: celestial Suggested revision: delicious Why it matters: “Delicious” conveys the intended praise more naturally in this friendly request.
- 6. Fix the collocation Original: experience of the dinner Suggested revision: dining experience Why it matters: “Dining experience” is the natural expression for the guests’ experience of the meal.
- 7. Use cuisine uncountably Original: cuisines Suggested revision: cuisine Why it matters: “Cuisine” is normally uncountable when referring collectively to a country's food.
- 8. Match the plural possessive Original: stomach and heart Suggested revision: stomachs and hearts Why it matters: The body-part nouns should be plural because they refer to several neighbours.
- 9. Use a natural phrase Original: my Suggested revision: spending Why it matters: “Spending time with” is the natural expression for describing this shared experience.
- 10. Keep the tone natural Original: amiable Suggested revision: friendly Why it matters: “Friendly” sounds more natural than the formal “amiable” in a personal letter.
- 11. Fix the menu preposition Original: in a party menu Suggested revision: on the party menu Why it matters: Items are conventionally described as being “on” a menu.
- 12. Use a concise verb Original: I have plans to invite Suggested revision: I plan to invite Why it matters: The simple verb form expresses the future plan more directly.
Suggested Rewrites
- Dear Neha, Hope Dear Neha, Hope
- party I'm thinking to hold party I'm thinking of holding
- special Indian food item special Indian dish
- ingredient list an ingredient list
- celestial delicious
- experience of the dinner dining experience
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
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
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.