An Australian friend is coming to visit you, and it will be his/her birthday during the visit. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - say how you feel about the visit? - suggest what you could do on his/her birthday? - ask what your friend thinks of your idea?
Sample Response
Dear Sam,
I hope this letter finds you in good health. I was flabbergasted when you told me about your vacation to India. I remember meeting you in person three years back before migrating to Australia, and it was an emotional moment. I am overwhelmed with happiness to meet you and have eternal conversations with you, which we missed all these days.
Furthermore, during your visit, we can celebrate your birthday in an affluent manner, and it is my responsibility to make your day filled with eternal memories. Let’s invite our school friends at midnight, and we can throw a party for all our peers, which includes dinner and music. The next day morning, we can go for a road trip to Meadow Caves. It is one of the best hangout spots to visit within city limits, and it is feasible to return to our home as early as possible. I browsed on the internet that there is a resort near caves and we can have our lunch there. I speculate they serve delicious cuisines with a mix of international flavours. After a scrumptious meal, we can return to my home.
These are the plans which I thought of celebrating your birthday. I anticipate that you will be fine with my plan; if not, then help me with some suggestions, and we will alter it.
Can’t wait to celebrate your birthday and hope to see you soon.
Best Regards,
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Choose positive emotion Original: flabbergasted Suggested revision: delighted Why it matters: “Flabbergasted” emphasizes shock, whereas “delighted” clearly conveys happiness about the visit.
- 2. Use natural travel phrase Original: vacation Suggested revision: trip Why it matters: “Trip to India” is the more natural phrase for the friend’s planned visit.
- 3. Use standard time phrase Original: back Suggested revision: ago Why it matters: “Ago” is the standard form for a past time measured from the present.
- 4. Express future anticipation Original: overwhelmed with happiness to meet you Suggested revision: overjoyed at the prospect of seeing you Why it matters: The revision naturally expresses excitement about a meeting that has not happened yet.
- 5. Avoid exaggerated collocation Original: eternal Suggested revision: long Why it matters: “Long conversations” conveys the intended idea without the unnatural collocation “eternal conversations.”
- 6. Fix tense and reference Original: which we missed all these days Suggested revision: which I have missed all this time Why it matters: The present perfect and singular viewpoint correctly describe an ongoing feeling up to now.
- 7. Use natural transition Original: Furthermore, during your visit Suggested revision: During your visit Why it matters: Removing the formal linker makes the transition more natural in a letter to a friend.
- 8. Use suitable celebration phrase Original: in an affluent manner Suggested revision: in a special way Why it matters: “Affluent” describes wealth and does not naturally describe how a birthday is celebrated.
- 9. Use natural collocation Original: eternal Suggested revision: wonderful Why it matters: “Wonderful memories” is a natural collocation for positive birthday experiences.
- 10. Fix time expression Original: The next day morning Suggested revision: The next morning Why it matters: “The next morning” is the standard English time expression.
- 11. Add definite article Original: within city limits Suggested revision: within the city limits Why it matters: The fixed phrase requires the definite article before “city limits.”
- 12. Use concise home phrase Original: to return to our home Suggested revision: to return home Why it matters: “Return home” is the natural idiomatic form in this context.
Suggested Rewrites
- flabbergasted delighted
- vacation trip
- back ago
- overwhelmed with happiness to meet you overjoyed at the prospect of seeing you
- eternal long
- which we missed all these days which I have missed all this time
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter addresses every bullet point, offers a detailed birthday plan, and is easy to follow from the writer's excitement through to the request for the friend's opinion. The main limitation is the repeated use of unnatural or overly formal vocabulary for a personal letter; prioritise natural collocations and a warmer conversational register so the language matches the relationship more convincingly.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All parts of the task are clearly addressed and the birthday suggestions are well developed, though the register is sometimes too formal for a close friend.
Express excitement and suggestions in more natural, friendly language throughout the letter.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has a clear sequence and appropriate paragraph divisions, although the long planning paragraph contains several ideas with limited internal signposting.
Separate the party and road-trip plans or connect them with clearer time-based progression.
Lexical Resource
The writer demonstrates good range, but frequent miscollocations such as 'eternal conversations,' 'affluent manner,' and 'delicious cuisines' reduce precision.
Choose common, context-appropriate combinations such as 'long conversations,' 'a memorable celebration,' and 'delicious food.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are attempted successfully and meaning remains clear, but article, preposition, and clause-structure errors recur.
Review articles and natural time expressions, especially in phrases such as 'the next morning' and 'a resort near the caves.'
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
An Australian friend is coming to visit you, and it will be his/her birthday during the visit. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- say how you feel about the visit?
- suggest what you could do on his/her birthday?
- ask what your friend thinks of your idea?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.