Your friend is celebrating her birthday and has invited you to a party. You cannot attend because you have an important meeting that day. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - thank him/her for the invitation - explain why you cannot come - propose meeting on another day
Sample Response
Dear Samantha, How lovely it is to receive your letter exactly when I was thinking of you. I am so happy that things are wonderful at your end. I am overwhelmed to be invited to your birthday party on the coming 24th November 2025. I wish you an advance happy birthday and thank you for inviting me. It means a lot to me. I sincerely wish to meet you at your birthday party to say happy birthday in person, but unfortunately, the date contradicts our board meeting schedule. It saddens me to say that I will not be able to make it as I will be at the meeting the whole day. This meeting is utterly important for all the staff and there is no way to skip it. I wish I truly could! I would, however, like to meet you sometime in December as I will visit your city during this time. I will bring you a birthday present and I am sure we will enjoy our time together. With lots of love and best wishes for our lovely birthday girl. Sonia
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use natural emotion Original: overwhelmed to be invited Suggested revision: delighted to be invited Why it matters: 'Delighted' expresses pleasure at the invitation more naturally than 'overwhelmed'.
- 2. Correct date expression Original: on the coming 24th November 2025 Suggested revision: on 24 November 2025 Why it matters: A specific date does not take 'the coming' in this construction.
- 3. Correct birthday expression Original: wish you an advance happy birthday Suggested revision: wish you a happy birthday in advance Why it matters: The natural expression places 'in advance' after the birthday wish.
- 4. Use accurate collocation Original: the date contradicts our board meeting schedule Suggested revision: the date clashes with a scheduled board meeting Why it matters: A date 'clashes with' another commitment rather than contradicting a schedule.
- 5. Use personal phrasing Original: there is no way to skip it Suggested revision: I cannot miss it Why it matters: This wording states the writer's obligation more directly and naturally.
- 6. Clarify time reference Original: during this time Suggested revision: then Why it matters: 'Then' refers more clearly and concisely to the proposed December visit.
- 7. Correct the sign-off Original: With lots of love and best wishes for our lovely birthday girl. Suggested revision: With lots of love and best wishes for your birthday, Why it matters: The original is a sentence fragment and refers to the recipient awkwardly in the third person.
- 8. Sentence rewrite Original: I wish I truly could! Suggested revision: I really wish I could attend your party! Why it matters: Naming the party removes the unclear reference to skipping the meeting in the preceding sentence.
- 9. Make the proposal specific Suggested revision: Offer a particular day or date in December and ask whether it suits Samantha. Why it matters: The alternative meeting is proposed, but 'sometime in December' is too vague to make an arrangement.
- 10. Separate the letter stages Suggested revision: Use separate paragraphs for the thanks, the meeting conflict, and the proposed December visit. Why it matters: The single-block format obscures the clear functional stages of the letter.
Suggested Rewrites
- overwhelmed to be invited delighted to be invited
- on the coming 24th November 2025 on 24 November 2025
- wish you an advance happy birthday wish you a happy birthday in advance
- the date contradicts our board meeting schedule the date clashes with a scheduled board meeting
- there is no way to skip it I cannot miss it
- during this time then
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter fully addresses the invitation, the unavoidable meeting, and a later reunion, while sustaining an affectionate and convincing tone throughout. Its main weakness is presentation and naturalness: the body is unbroken, and expressions such as 'the date contradicts our board meeting schedule' sound unnecessarily formal or imprecise for a close friend. Divide the message into purposeful paragraphs and favour simpler, more idiomatic wording.
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, a clear purpose, and a consistently appropriate informal tone.
Make the proposed December meeting slightly more definite by suggesting a particular day or activity.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message follows a clear sequence from thanks to explanation and alternative plans, with effective linking despite being presented as one long paragraph.
Separate the thanks, reason for declining, and proposed reunion into short paragraphs to make the progression easier to scan.
Lexical Resource
There is a broad and effective vocabulary range, although a few collocations such as 'advance happy birthday' and 'the date contradicts our board meeting schedule' are unnatural.
Choose more idiomatic phrases, for example 'happy birthday in advance' and 'the party clashes with our board meeting.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied simple and complex sentence forms with a high degree of accuracy and only minor non-impeding slips.
Refine small constructions such as 'on the coming 24th November' to the more natural 'on 24 November.'
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your friend is celebrating her birthday and has invited you to a party. You cannot attend because you have an important meeting that day. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- thank him/her for the invitation
- explain why you cannot come
- propose meeting on another day
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.