One of your colleagues was in charge of organising an annual executive conference, and he/she has been successful in doing it. You want to congratulate your colleague on that. Write a letter to this colleague. In your letter: - congratulate your colleague for successfully organising the event - mention what you liked about it the most - say how much you would like him/her to organise other events as well
Sample Response
Dear Jeremy, Hope you are doing excellent. I am writing this letter to congratulate you on organizing this year's annual executive conference quite successfully. But, you deserve this compliment even more because you have managed to organize this conference successfully on rather short notice as we were not sure until the last hour whether or not our CEO would be able to attend the conference. I think it was an outstanding conference this year as everybody loved it. What I liked the most about the conference is its theme selection where the theme “Stronger as a team” inspired all the attendees to have some serious, honest and stimulating conversations among themselves. Even our company CEO, who doesn’t normally take that much interest in our annual conference, was pleased with your theme selection. Besides, your venue selection for the conference was also very wise because everybody was able to arrive there easily in public transportation instead of using some expensive taxi ride. So, it looks like you have the natural ability and talent to organize events. Therefore, I would be really glad if you start organizing other events like annual inter-departmental sports and annual corporate picnics from now on. Yours sincerely, Andy Moore
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Fix opening sentence Original: Hope you are doing excellent. Suggested revision: I hope you are doing well. Why it matters: The sentence needs a subject, and the adverb “well” describes how the colleague is doing.
- 2. Remove false contrast Original: But, Suggested revision: Delete Why it matters: The sentence reinforces the congratulations rather than contrasting with the previous point.
- 3. Correct fixed phrase Original: on rather short notice Suggested revision: at rather short notice Why it matters: The standard expression is “at short notice.”
- 4. Use natural idiom Original: until the last hour Suggested revision: until the last minute Why it matters: “Until the last minute” is the natural phrase for very late uncertainty.
- 5. Clarify relationship Original: theme selection where Suggested revision: choice of theme because Why it matters: “Because” correctly introduces why the selected theme was especially effective.
- 6. Improve verb choice Original: to have some serious, honest and stimulating conversations Suggested revision: to engage in serious, honest and stimulating conversations Why it matters: People more naturally “engage in” conversations than “have some” conversations in this context.
- 7. Remove vague intensifier Original: that much interest Suggested revision: much interest Why it matters: “That much” is unnecessarily conversational and imprecise in this sentence.
- 8. Fix transport phrase Original: arrive there easily in public transportation Suggested revision: reach it easily by public transport Why it matters: Use “by” for the means of transport and “reach” with the venue as its object.
- 9. Correct taxi collocation Original: instead of using some expensive taxi ride Suggested revision: without taking an expensive taxi Why it matters: English uses “take a taxi,” not “use a taxi ride.”
- 10. Remove redundancy Original: the natural ability and talent Suggested revision: a natural talent Why it matters: “Ability” and “talent” repeat the same idea, so one concise noun is sufficient.
- 11. Reduce repeated wording Original: managed to organize this conference successfully Suggested revision: organised the conference successfully Why it matters: The shorter wording avoids an unnecessarily elaborate verb phrase.
- 12. Remove unnecessary determiner Original: all the attendees Suggested revision: all attendees Why it matters: The generic plural noun does not require “the” in this context.
Suggested Rewrites
- Hope you are doing excellent. I hope you are doing well.
- But, Delete
- on rather short notice at rather short notice
- until the last hour until the last minute
- theme selection where choice of theme because
- to have some serious, honest and stimulating conversations to engage in serious, honest and stimulating conversations
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter communicates its congratulatory purpose immediately and develops all three bullet points with specific, relevant details about the theme, venue, and future events. Its main limitation is presentation: the entire message forms one dense block, while a few awkward collocations and grammatical choices reduce polish. The highest priority is to divide the content into purposeful paragraphs and refine expressions such as the transport and closing-request phrases.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
The purpose is fully achieved, all bullet points are clearly covered, and the supporting details are relevant and well developed.
Make the request for future event organisation slightly more tactful to sustain the collegial register throughout.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from congratulations to highlights and then to the future request, with clear linking despite the absence of paragraph breaks.
Use separate paragraphs for the opening purpose, event highlights, and final request so the letter is easier to follow.
Lexical Resource
A good range of topic-appropriate vocabulary conveys praise and specific event details, although several collocations are awkward or repetitive.
Replace phrases such as "arrive there easily in public transportation" with more natural collocations and reduce repetition of "conference" and "organize".
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses varied complex sentences with generally good control, while minor article, preposition, and punctuation errors remain noticeable.
Check adjective and preposition choices, especially "doing excellent" and "in public transportation," and avoid unnecessary commas after linking words.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
One of your colleagues was in charge of organising an annual executive conference, and he/she has been successful in doing it. You want to congratulate your colleague on that. Write a letter to this colleague. In your letter:
- congratulate your colleague for successfully organising the event
- mention what you liked about it the most
- say how much you would like him/her to organise other events as well
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.