One of your colleagues is leaving for a new job, and your manager has asked you to arrange a farewell party for him/her. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter: - suggest a suitable date and time for the party - recommend a place - discuss the food and entertainment options that should be available
Sample Response
Dear Mrs Linda,
I am writing this letter to update you ongive you some updates on the farewell party for Elizabeth Gomez, which you asked me to arrange.
The party could be held atis supposed to be arranged at one of the most beautiful and spacious convention centres in our city, known as The Blue Paradise, located downtownlocated across the downtown, only a few miles from our officewhich is only a few miles away from our office. Our party can start between 3 andto 5 pm and should end by 11:30 pmshould not continue after 11:30 pm. We also have tentatively chosen a datehave fixed a tentative date for the party between the 5th of May and the 9th of May.
There will certainly beThere certainly will be some delicious foodfood items and drinks at the party. I know most of our co-workers’ dietary preferencesthe eating habits of most of our co-workers well, and they all prefer European cuisinecuisines that are featuring vegetables and seafoodmade of vegetables and seafood. Besides, we could also have several entertainment optionssome options for entertainment, such as a “sing all you can” activitysuch as, “sing all you can” where anybody can sing his or her favourite song, and share some of our fun memories at work. Finally, we will give some gifts to our departing colleague.
That is all that I can share with you now. But if you feel that we need to add something else here or suggest some changesbring some corrections, please feel free to share.
Yours sincerely,
Joseph Crowley
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter has a clear purpose, covers the venue, refreshments, and entertainment in useful detail, and maintains a generally suitable professional tone. Its main limitation is that the date and starting time remain broad ranges rather than a firm recommendation, while a few collocations sound unnatural. Prioritise proposing one specific schedule and polishing phrases about the venue, cuisine, and requested revisions.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are addressed with relevant detail, although the proposed date and time are not sufficiently definite.
Recommend one specific date and a clear start and finish time, with a brief reason for their suitability.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter is organised into clear functional paragraphs and progresses logically from arrangements to catering and entertainment.
Make the sequence within the arrangements paragraph more direct by presenting the date, time, and venue in a consistent order.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and generally appropriate, but phrases such as across the downtown, European cuisines, and bring some corrections are awkward.
Use natural collocations such as near the city centre, European-style dishes, and suggest any changes.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A good range of complex structures is used with generally strong control, despite occasional preposition and punctuation errors.
Correct range constructions such as between 3 and 5 pm and remove unnecessary commas around examples.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
One of your colleagues is leaving for a new job, and your manager has asked you to arrange a farewell party for him/her. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter:
- suggest a suitable date and time for the party
- recommend a place
- discuss the food and entertainment options that should be available
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.