You had arranged to go on holiday with your friend. However, you must change your plans. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - say how much you were looking forward to the holiday - explain why you had to change your plans - suggest an alternative arrangement
Sample Response
Hello Karen, I hope you are doing well, butdoing well but I’m afraid I have to be the bearer of bad news. I’m not going to be able to make it to the Highlands next month as planned. Something has come up and I’ve got to cancel. DeleteBasically, my boss has asked me to take on a new client starting next week. They are going to be a handful and I will struggle to cope with my current workloadas it is. Getting away for a weekendThe possibility of getting away for a weekend just isn’t really on the cards anymore. I’m really sad about it because I was looking forward to spending time with you as it has been a while since we last saw each othersince we saw each other. Fortunately, I should be ableI think that I will be able to get some extra time off once things settle at work. By taking on the new clientWith the new client, I’ve really done my boss a favour and so I’m confident he’ll happily give me some extra time off in the summerextra holiday time in the summer. We can start planning another getaway for later in the year. Sorry again about all this. I know you were looking forward to it and so was I. However, let’s keep our fingers crossed for next time. Best, David
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter's strongest feature is its natural, friendly voice, which supports a clear purpose and fully developed coverage of the changed plans, work pressure, and a later trip. Its main limitation is presentation as one continuous body paragraph, which weakens the visible organisation of otherwise well-sequenced ideas; dividing the message into short purpose, explanation, and alternative-arrangement paragraphs should be the priority.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly cancels the Highlands trip, explains the new-client workload, expresses genuine disappointment, and proposes another getaway later in the year in an appropriately informal tone.
Make the alternative arrangement more concrete by suggesting a specific month or inviting Karen to choose between possible dates.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas move logically from the cancellation and reason to disappointment, future leave, and a replacement trip, with cohesive expressions used naturally.
Separate the body into clear paragraphs for the cancellation, work explanation, and proposed new arrangement.
Lexical Resource
A flexible range of natural informal language, including idiomatic expressions, conveys both the practical problem and the writer's feelings precisely.
Refine the occasional slightly vague phrase, such as replacing later in the year with a more precise proposed time.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A varied mix of simple and complex sentence structures is controlled accurately, and minor punctuation lapses do not impede meaning.
Use commas more consistently before coordinating clauses, especially in the opening sentence, to polish sentence boundaries.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You had arranged to go on holiday with your friend. However, you must change your plans. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- say how much you were looking forward to the holiday
- explain why you had to change your plans
- suggest an alternative arrangement
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.