You bought a music concert ticket. However, you are unable to go. So you want to offer the ticket to your friend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - say about the concert - say why you are unable to go - inform how your friend can receive the ticket
Sample Response
Dear Eric, Hope you are doing great. It's been only two weeks since I last saw you and it already feels like a year! I am writing to offer you a concert ticket that I purchased a few days ago. As I can't make it to the concert, I thought you should go. On November 7th, Guns N' Roses is coming to Oakland to rock the city. The full team would be on the stage and it would be a 4 hours' blast at the Oakland Coliseum. I did not want to miss my favourite band's live performance and purchased a ticket. Unfortunately, I will have to cancel it due to a sudden family tour to Canada during the time to meet my grandparents on their 50th wedding anniversary. I know how much you revere Guns N' Roses and that's why I would like you to enjoy the concert. I did not want to disappoint my parents and dishearten my grandmother, who is eagerly expecting me on their marriage anniversary. I will give the ticket to David, who is also going to the concert, and you can meet him prior to the concert to collect it. Do not forget to record the performance and share your experience with me when I get back and meet you. Take care and have fun. Warm regards, Robert
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Separate the greeting Original: Dear Eric, Hope Suggested revision: Dear Eric, Hope Why it matters: The greeting should be separated from the opening sentence.
- 2. Improve word order Original: It's been only two weeks Suggested revision: It's only been two weeks Why it matters: This adverb position is more natural in the present perfect construction.
- 3. Use music term Original: team Suggested revision: band Why it matters: A musical group is called a band rather than a team.
- 4. Use future tense Original: would be on the stage Suggested revision: will be on stage Why it matters: The scheduled future event requires “will,” and the idiomatic expression is “on stage”.
- 5. Fix duration phrase Original: a 4 hours' blast Suggested revision: a four-hour concert Why it matters: A duration used before a noun takes a singular hyphenated form.
- 6. Use accurate verb Original: cancel Suggested revision: miss Why it matters: The writer cannot cancel the concert but will be unable to attend it.
- 7. Use natural collocation Original: tour Suggested revision: trip Why it matters: “Family trip” is the natural term for this journey to Canada.
- 8. Clarify anticipation Original: expecting me Suggested revision: awaiting my visit Why it matters: The revision clearly expresses that the grandmother is looking forward to the visit.
- 9. Use standard phrase Original: marriage Suggested revision: wedding Why it matters: “Wedding anniversary” is the standard English collocation.
- 10. Use natural greeting Original: great Suggested revision: well Why it matters: “Doing well” is the more standard phrasing in this friendly greeting.
- 11. Clarify the timing Original: during the time Suggested revision: at that time Why it matters: The revision refers clearly to the date of the concert.
- 12. Match friendly tone Original: revere Suggested revision: love Why it matters: “Love” sounds more natural than the unusually formal “revere” in a letter to a friend.
Suggested Rewrites
- Dear Eric, Hope Dear Eric, Hope
- It's been only two weeks It's only been two weeks
- team band
- would be on the stage will be on stage
- a 4 hours' blast a four-hour concert
- cancel miss
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter has a warm, convincing informal voice and gives ample detail about the concert, the family commitment, and the ticket collection arrangement. The main weaknesses are the absence of paragraph breaks and several unnatural word combinations, although the message remains clear. The highest-priority improvement is to divide the response into purposeful paragraphs and edit expressions such as “family tour” and “marriage anniversary” for naturalness.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully covered with relevant detail, and the friendly tone is consistently appropriate for a close friend.
Keep the same complete coverage while trimming a little repeated explanation about disappointing family members.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a clear sequence and are linked effectively, but presenting the entire letter as one block weakens organisation.
Use separate paragraphs for the offer, concert details, reason for missing it, and collection arrangement.
Lexical Resource
The response shows a good range of lively and topic-specific vocabulary, but several collocations are unnatural or imprecise.
Replace expressions such as “the full team,” “family tour,” and “marriage anniversary” with natural alternatives such as “the full band,” “family trip,” and “wedding anniversary.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A varied mix of complex and simple sentences is generally well controlled, with only occasional structural and agreement errors.
Correct forms such as “a four-hour concert” and rewrite the awkward clause beginning “due to a sudden family tour” as a clear reason clause.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You bought a music concert ticket. However, you are unable to go. So you want to offer the ticket to your friend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- say about the concert
- say why you are unable to go
- inform how your friend can receive the ticket
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.