A friend has asked you to babysit on Saturday and wants to know how much you charge per hour. You already have a commitment this weekend, but you are free the following weekend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - explain why you cannot help this weekend - say that you could help the following weekend - explain what your fee is
Sample Response
Dear Bella, I hope you are doing wellHope you are doing fine and enjoying yourselfenjoying the season. I am so happy that you asked me to babysit Anna for you. She is such an adorable child and I love spending time with her. I would be happy to babysit her for you but due to my university exam the following Mondaymy exam at the university the next Monday, I am afraid I cannot spare any time on Saturdayspare time on Saturday. However, I will be free the following weekendfree the next week and would be happy to look after her if you want. I will be extremelyhorribly busy studying all week and throughout the weekendthis whole week and during the weekends as I have an important exam next Monday. My final gradeMy term final result will depend on this exam and I have to dedicate my time to preparingprepare for it. I hope you understand that I cannot spare time before my exam even thoughafter I wish I could. However, I will be free the followingnext weekend and would like to babysit for you in case you go out then. As I recallremember, I charged you 20 dollars an hour last time and my rate would be the samethe charge would be the same this time as well. In case you need my helpservice for more than 8 hours a day, you should let me know beforehandinform beforehand. With lots of love,With lots of love. Yours truly, Emma
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter responds warmly and clearly to all three requirements, giving a convincing reason, confirming availability the following weekend, and stating the hourly fee. Its main weakness is repetition of the exam and availability points, alongside several awkward grammatical and collocational choices. The highest-priority improvement is to condense repeated information and proofread complex sentences for accurate verb patterns, prepositions, and clause links.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response fully explains the current commitment, offers help the following weekend, and states the fee in a suitably friendly tone.
Condense the repeated explanation about the exam so each bullet point receives balanced, purposeful development.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message is easy to follow and uses clear linking, but the exam and future availability are unnecessarily repeated.
Group the refusal, alternative date, and fee into separate focused paragraphs and remove duplicated points.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficiently varied and appropriate for an informal letter, with generally clear expression of personal circumstances.
Improve collocational precision in phrases such as dedicate my time to prepare and inform beforehand.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A useful range of sentence structures is attempted, though recurring errors in verb patterns, prepositions, and clause linking weaken accuracy.
Proofread complex sentences for natural forms such as dedicate my time to preparing and inform me beforehand.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A friend has asked you to babysit on Saturday and wants to know how much you charge per hour. You already have a commitment this weekend, but you are free the following weekend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- explain why you cannot help this weekend
- say that you could help the following weekend
- explain what your fee is
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.