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, I am Elizabeth Conor, a local resident of Essex, writing to congratulate you onfor arranging a successful community eventcommunity meet-up programme this year. Many other residents whom I have spokentalked to lately feellately, feel the same. Your organisation deserves applause from all of us. The tenth of MarchTenth March is a special day for the citizens of Essex. This day markswitnesses the largest gathering of local residents and the election of key community membersthe vote to elect some key members of the community makes it even more significant. Arranging the morning meeting, administering the successful voting, serving lunch to everyone and then finally letting members talk about their complaints and express compliments require an exceptional team of people and their hard work. You made this programme memorable and meaningful. I was particularly impressed byquite amazed by the introduction of a software-based voting system that was fast and reliableinstantaneous and flawless. Unlike inthe previous years, we did not have to wait for hours to learn the resultsresult. This was a valuable improvementThis was a great addition to the programme. Having said that, I would recommend some supervised activities for childrensome amusement facilities for children and volunteers to look after them so that parents can participate in the programme without having to supervise themwithout looking over their shoulder. Thank you once again for a remarkable programme this year. We will remember this for a long timefor many days to come. Yours faithfully, Elizabeth Conor
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter fully achieves its purpose, giving clear event details, praising the efficient electronic voting system, and offering a constructive childcare suggestion in a consistently respectful tone. Its main weakness is organisation: all content appears in one long body block, and a few collocations and grammatical details are awkward. The priority is to separate the event, praise, and recommendation into distinct paragraphs while retaining the specific supporting detail.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully and specifically developed, and the congratulatory purpose and polite criticism are consistently appropriate for the organisers.
Make the suggested improvement even more actionable by briefly indicating where the children's facilities and supervising volunteers could be located.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message progresses logically from event details to praise and criticism, but placing the whole body in one paragraph weakens its visible organisation.
Give the event description, favourite feature, and improvement suggestion separate body paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
A flexible range conveys praise and constructive criticism precisely, although a few combinations such as 'express compliments' and 'remember this for many days' sound unnatural.
Use natural alternatives such as 'offer feedback and compliments' and 'remember the event for years to come.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of structures is used with strong control, while only occasional agreement, punctuation, and preposition errors occur.
Remove the comma separating the subject from 'feel,' and use 'requires' after the long singular gerund phrase beginning with 'Arranging.'
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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.