Every year, someone in the company where you work is chosen as the best employee. Your manager has asked staff members to make suggestions about who should be chosen this year. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter: - identify a colleague who you think should be the best employee - explain what the job of this colleague involves - give reasons why the colleague should be chosen as the best employee
Sample Response
Dear Mr Alan, I would like to express my appreciation for the great initiative to take employees' feedback for selecting the employee of the year. Personally, I would recommend Alfred Simmon for the title this year. Alfred is an achiever, and his unparalleled leadership has brought innovation and enviable success to our company. As a project manager, his responsibility is to distribute works to the team members, coordinate them, liaison to the sales team, deliver the projects to the clients in time and everything in between. His dedication and friendly attitude have inspired many junior employees to work hard and be loyal to the company. He is a leader who sets examples to his subordinates, and this is exactly what a project manager in our company should be like. Nobody, in my opinion, deserves the title more than he does. By choosing him the employee of the year, we can show our recognition to the worthiest employee in the office. Yours sincerely, Daniel Cabin
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use uncountable feedback Original: employees' feedback Suggested revision: employee feedback Why it matters: Use the attributive singular noun with the uncountable noun “feedback”.
- 2. Clarify the context Original: for selecting Suggested revision: when selecting Why it matters: “When selecting” expresses the context of using the feedback more naturally.
- 3. Use natural collocation Original: an achiever Suggested revision: a high achiever Why it matters: “High achiever” is the standard expression for someone who performs exceptionally well.
- 4. Strengthen the collocation Original: brought innovation Suggested revision: fostered innovation Why it matters: “Fostered innovation” is a more natural professional collocation.
- 5. Use uncountable work Original: distribute works Suggested revision: assign work Why it matters: “Work” is uncountable here, and “assign” accurately describes allocating tasks.
- 6. Clarify the reference Original: coordinate them Suggested revision: coordinate their work Why it matters: Naming what is coordinated avoids the vague pronoun “them”.
- 7. Use the verb form Original: liaison to Suggested revision: liaise with Why it matters: “Liaison” is a noun; the required verb phrase is “liaise with”.
- 8. Use deadline phrase Original: in time Suggested revision: on time Why it matters: “On time” means meeting a scheduled deadline, whereas “in time” means before it is too late.
- 9. Correct the expression Original: sets examples to his subordinates Suggested revision: sets an example for his subordinates Why it matters: The fixed expression is “set an example for someone”.
- 10. Correct the collocation Original: recognition to Suggested revision: recognition of Why it matters: “Recognition of” is the correct collocation when acknowledging a person's merit.
- 11. Use formal appreciation Original: great initiative Suggested revision: valuable initiative Why it matters: “Valuable initiative” expresses appreciation in a more professional register.
- 12. Avoid an absolute claim Original: unparalleled leadership Suggested revision: exceptional leadership Why it matters: “Exceptional” is strong praise without making an unsupported absolute comparison.
Suggested Rewrites
- employees' feedback employee feedback
- for selecting when selecting
- an achiever a high achiever
- brought innovation fostered innovation
- distribute works assign work
- coordinate them coordinate their work
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter’s strongest feature is its clear recommendation, supported by a relevant account of Alfred’s responsibilities and leadership qualities in an appropriately respectful tone. Its main limitation is imprecise wording and collocation in several otherwise ambitious phrases, while the single-block presentation slightly weakens readability; the highest-priority improvement is to use more natural professional expressions and separate the role description from the supporting reasons.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all three bullet points are covered, and the recommendation is supported with relevant detail in a suitable formal tone.
Develop one or two achievements more specifically to make the case for Alfred even more compelling.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from the nomination to duties and supporting reasons, although the letter is presented as one continuous paragraph.
Divide the body into clear paragraphs for the recommendation, job responsibilities, and reasons for selection.
Lexical Resource
A good range of evaluative and workplace vocabulary is used, but collocations such as ‘distribute works’ and ‘recognition to’ are imprecise.
Use natural professional combinations such as ‘assign work’ and ‘show recognition of his contribution’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied complex sentences are handled with strong control, with only occasional errors in word form and preposition choice.
Check parallel verb forms and dependent prepositions carefully when constructing long lists of responsibilities.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Every year, someone in the company where you work is chosen as the best employee. Your manager has asked staff members to make suggestions about who should be chosen this year. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter:
- identify a colleague who you think should be the best employee
- explain what the job of this colleague involves
- give reasons why the colleague should be chosen as the best employee
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.