An annual event was recently held in your area. Write a letter to the organisers congratulating them on a successful production. In your letter: - give details of the event - mention what you liked most about the event - make a polite criticism of something that could be improved
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, As a member of the Frederick community in the city of Munich, I am writing this letter to congratulate you on a very successful production of the Folk Music Festival on 27th March this year. This music festival is held every year in our area, and I am confidentpretty sure that other members of our community also feel that you have done excellent work this time. This is probablyThis probably is the first time in its history that you managed to attract so many people, not only from our city but also from many other parts of our country, with your excellent advertising campaignworks. Besides, your flawless seating arrangement, top-class sound system, and the choicechoices of music just could not be any better. However, what I really liked mostliked the most about the event was that you even allowed the audience to ask questionsdifferent kinds of questions to the musiciansmusic artists about their liveslife and hobbies in a very friendly and casual environment. Of course, you could perhaps arrange an even bigger venuearrange even a bigger venue with a more spacious parking area, but, again, other than that, the whole event was simply superb. Many thanks once again. Yours faithfully, Mark Henry
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter responds fully and warmly, giving clear event details, explaining why the audience interaction was especially successful, and offering a tactful suggestion about venue and parking capacity. Its strongest feature is the well-sustained congratulatory purpose and natural progression. The main limitation is a handful of slightly awkward collocations; prioritise more idiomatic formal wording while preserving the positive, diplomatic tone.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully developed, and the praise and criticism are balanced in an appropriately courteous tone.
Make the improvement suggestion slightly more actionable by linking a larger venue directly to the unexpectedly high attendance.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter progresses clearly from congratulations and event details to the favourite feature, polite criticism, and closing thanks.
Use short paragraphs for event details, the highlight, and the suggested improvement to sharpen an already coherent structure.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible and expressive, though a few combinations such as 'advertising works' and 'music artists' are less natural.
Use idiomatic phrases such as 'promotional campaign', 'choice of music', and 'performers'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of sentence structures is used with strong control, and only minor localised imperfections appear.
Refine word order in phrases such as 'This is probably the first time' and avoid unnecessary commas around 'again'.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
An annual event was recently held in your area. Write a letter to the organisers congratulating them on a successful production. In your letter:
- give details of the event
- mention what you liked most about the event
- make a polite criticism of something that could be improved
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.