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 Yuki, Hope you're doing well. I'm writingwriting this letter to ask for a favour from you. Actually, I need the recipe for Japanese ramen noodle soupJapanese Ramen Noodle Soup from you since I'm going to throw a party soon atin which I want to include this dishitem. Of course, this is going to be a very special party since all of my high school friends are going to get together and have a good time while talking about our work and achievements in life for the first time sinceafter finishing high school. The reasonThe reason, for which, I'm asking for this recipe is that I fell in love with this particular soup after eating it at one of the upscale Japanese restaurants in my country. So, I thought that it would beit just would be a great idea to introduce this awesome and delicious dish, instead of only those food items which we enjoy on a regular basis, to all of my friends at the party, so that I cancould impress them with my new idea. Please get back to me with the recipe for this incredible soup once you read this letter. Warm wishes, Adam
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully achieves its purpose through a warm, appropriate tone and well-developed details about the reunion, the requested ramen recipe, and the reason for serving it. Its main weakness is presentation: all ideas sit in one dense paragraph, and a few phrases are wordy or overenthusiastic; prioritise clear paragraph breaks and more concise, natural phrasing while preserving the friendly voice.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly requests a specific recipe, explains the party in relevant detail, and gives a convincing reason for wanting a dish from the friend’s country.
Refine the request by asking for any special ingredients or preparation advice needed to reproduce the soup successfully.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a logical sequence from the request to the party and reasons, but the entire letter is presented as one dense paragraph.
Use separate paragraphs for the party, the recipe request, and the reason for choosing Japanese food.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a flexible range of appropriate informal vocabulary, although phrases such as “include this item” and “awesome and delicious dish” are less natural or precise.
Prefer concise everyday wording such as “serve this dish” and avoid stacking broad evaluative adjectives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A varied mix of simple and complex sentences is generally accurate, with only occasional punctuation and word-order lapses.
Remove unnecessary commas in “The reason for which I’m asking” and use the more natural order “I thought it would be.”
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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.