You have just read an article in an international travel magazine which contained some information about your town that is incorrect. Write a letter to the editor of the magazine. In your letter: - correct the information in the article - explain why it is important for the magazine to give - correct information - suggest what the magazine should do about this situation
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, A couple of weeks ago, your popular international travel magazine, in its 250th edition, published an article about my hometown in an effort to provide a bit more exposure to the travel-related activities in it. Well, while I appreciate this noble effort of yours, I regret to inform you that there is a factual error in your article that requires immediate correction. In fact, your article in question says that the migratory birds visit our town during the month of April while the correct information is that they start to visit our hometown from early February. By the way, correcting this information in your magazine is very important for the livelihood of many people in my hometown because they heavily rely on the tourist spending of the visitors who come to visit our town in order to see these migratory birds. Therefore, I would like to request you to please issue a correctional notice in your magazine’s next publication about the previous mistake so that the prospective tourists don’t get confused about the timing of the migratory birds’ visit to my hometown.
Thank you for your consideration in advance. Yours faithfully, Antonio Perez
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Remove informal filler Original: Well, Suggested revision: Delete Why it matters: This conversational filler is unnecessary in a formal letter to an editor.
- 2. Use neutral appreciation Original: this noble effort of yours Suggested revision: this effort Why it matters: The shorter wording maintains politeness without sounding exaggerated.
- 3. Use formal transition Original: By the way, Suggested revision: Importantly, Why it matters: ‘By the way’ is conversational and suggests an aside, although the sentence addresses a required task point.
- 4. Correct livelihood phrase Original: very important for the livelihood of many people Suggested revision: vital to the livelihoods of many people Why it matters: The plural ‘livelihoods’ is needed because the phrase refers to many individuals.
- 5. Natural adverb placement Original: they heavily rely on Suggested revision: they rely heavily on Why it matters: The adverb naturally follows the verb in this phrase.
- 6. Remove redundant wording Original: the tourist spending of the visitors Suggested revision: visitors’ spending Why it matters: The concise possessive phrase avoids repeating the same group as both tourists and visitors.
- 7. Condense purpose phrase Original: who come to visit our town in order to see Suggested revision: who visit our town to see Why it matters: The shorter wording preserves the purpose without repetition.
- 8. Use correct request pattern Original: request you to please issue Suggested revision: ask you to issue Why it matters: ‘Request you to please’ is redundant and less natural than ‘ask you to’.
- 9. Use publication term Original: correctional Suggested revision: correction Why it matters: ‘Correction notice’ is the standard term for a published amendment.
- 10. Use magazine term Original: publication Suggested revision: issue Why it matters: A magazine releases an ‘issue’, which is more precise than ‘publication’ here.
- 11. State correction directly Original: about the previous mistake Suggested revision: correcting this error Why it matters: This wording directly connects the notice with the inaccurate information.
- 12. Remove unnecessary article Original: the prospective tourists Suggested revision: prospective tourists Why it matters: The group is mentioned generally, so the definite article is unnecessary.
Suggested Rewrites
- Well, Delete
- this noble effort of yours this effort
- By the way, Importantly,
- very important for the livelihood of many people vital to the livelihoods of many people
- they heavily rely on they rely heavily on
- the tourist spending of the visitors visitors’ spending
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter clearly corrects the date, explains the economic importance of accurate information, and requests a notice in the next issue, maintaining an appropriately formal purpose. Its main weakness is a dense single-paragraph presentation combined with repetitive and occasionally over-elaborate wording. The priority is to use separate paragraphs for the error, its consequences, and the requested remedy, while choosing concise editorial language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
The factual correction, its importance to local livelihoods, and the requested response are all fully developed in a suitably courteous letter.
Specify that the correction should state the February arrival period prominently so prospective visitors can plan accurately.
Coherence and Cohesion
The reasoning progresses clearly from the error to its consequences and remedy, but one dense body paragraph and repeated nouns reduce cohesion.
Use three body paragraphs and replace repeated references to the magazine, article, and hometown with clear pronouns where appropriate.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a strong range for correction and economic impact, although phrases such as 'noble effort' and 'correctional notice' are overly elaborate or imprecise.
Prefer concise editorial terms such as 'article,' 'incorrect date,' 'local tourism income,' and 'correction notice.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are handled accurately and errors are infrequent, though some structures are unnecessarily wordy and the request pattern is awkward.
Use a direct form such as 'I would be grateful if you published a correction in the next issue' and trim redundant purpose clauses.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have just read an article in an international travel magazine which contained some information about your town that is incorrect. Write a letter to the editor of the magazine. In your letter:
- correct the information in the article
- explain why it is important for the magazine to give
- correct information
- suggest what the magazine should do about this situation
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.