Last week you were on a flight to London. When you left the plane, you left a bag and did not remember it until you reached your hotel. Write a letter to the airline. In your letter: - explain what happened - describe the bag and its contents - say what you would like the airline to do
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, Last week, I took one of your direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Londonto fly from Kuala Lumpur to London. My flight was on 27th June and the flight number was NR-15478. UnfortunatelyBut, unfortunately, when I left the plane, I left my cross-body bag on boardbag in it. However, I realised that the bag was missingcame to know about the lost bag only after I had arrived at my hotel when I needed to show my reservation documents to the hotel receptionistauthority. I always hang the bagthat men’s bag around my shoulder, but, when I was flying in your aircraft and sat near block D, I, unfortunately, left it in the overhead locker above the seats. And that’s probably what caused me to forget about the bag. To give you some idea about my bag and its contents, it is a brown leather bagbrown colour leather bag which is about 10 inches wide, 12 inches long and 6 inches deep6 inches in diameter and is made by Kenneth Cole. The bag contains important documents from my office, copies of my travel documents, as well as personal items like a hair clipper (comb), a trimmer and an ebook reader. So, once you find the bag, please give me a call and then courier it to my office address which is attached on one side of the bag at your earliest convenience. If this is not possible, I can visit your office and collect it myself. Yours faithfully, Mitchel Moore
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fulfils its practical purpose very effectively by supplying precise flight details, a thorough description of the missing bag, and clear options for its return. Its strongest content is weakened by one-block organisation, repetitive connectors, and a few imprecise expressions. Separate the three required points into paragraphs and streamline the wording so the request reads more naturally and professionally.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully developed with specific, useful details, and the formal request to the airline is clear throughout.
Remove minor redundant explanation so the essential loss and recovery details are even more direct.
Coherence and Cohesion
The account moves logically from the flight and loss to the bag description and requested action, but paragraphing is absent and some connectors are repetitive.
Create a separate paragraph for each required point and reduce repeated use of but, however, and so.
Lexical Resource
A broad, task-appropriate range describes the flight, bag, contents, and delivery request clearly, despite a few imprecise choices.
Use more exact terms for details such as seat or row D, the bag's depth, and the grooming items.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex time clauses, relative clauses, and conditional structures are used with generally good control, although some sentences are awkwardly constructed.
Revise cumbersome clauses, especially the sentence beginning when I was flying, and avoid unnecessary commas after coordinating conjunctions.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Last week you were on a flight to London. When you left the plane, you left a bag and did not remember it until you reached your hotel. Write a letter to the airline. In your letter:
- explain what happened
- describe the bag and its contents
- say what you would like the airline to do
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.