You have recently attended a marriage ceremony in your country. You have an English-speaking friend who you want to describe your experience of attending this marriage ceremony. Write a letter to this English-speaking friend. In your letter: - whose marriage ceremony it was - give details of this marriage ceremony - invite your friend to come and visit your country
Sample Response
Dear Emily,
I hope you're doing great! I was so excited to receive your letter yesterday. Today, I'm writing to tell you about an amazing wedding ceremony I recently attended and it was truly a celebration to remember!
It was the marriage of my cousin, Priya, and it took place here in Jaipur, the cultural heart of Rajasthan. The entire event spanned three days, beginning with the Mehendi ceremony, where all the women had their hands beautifully decorated with henna. The next day was the Sangeet, which was filled with music, dance, and performances by family members. The final day was the wedding itself, held in a traditional palace venue, adorned with vibrant marigold garlands and fairy lights. Everyone wore colourful ethnic attire, and the food - oh, you would have loved it! From spicy curries to sweet gulab jamuns, every dish was mouthwatering.
I truly wish you could have been here. It made me realise how much you would enjoy the culture, colours, and warmth of Indian celebrations. Why don’t you plan a visit sometime soon? I’d love to show you around and give you a real taste of our traditions.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Warm wishes,
Nandini
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use the natural noun Original: marriage Suggested revision: wedding Why it matters: “Wedding” refers more naturally to the ceremony and celebration being described.
- 2. Clarify the time link Original: the Mehendi ceremony, where Suggested revision: the Mehendi ceremony, during which Why it matters: “During which” links the activity more precisely to the ceremony as an event.
- 3. Choose a precise verb Original: Sangeet, which was filled with Suggested revision: Sangeet, which featured Why it matters: “Featured” expresses the event's contents more directly and concisely.
- 4. Remove the vague noun Original: traditional palace venue Suggested revision: traditional palace Why it matters: “Palace” already identifies the venue, so the extra generic noun is unnecessary.
- 5. Format the interruption Original: food - oh Suggested revision: food—oh Why it matters: An em dash without surrounding spaces correctly marks this emphatic interruption.
- 6. Make the invitation direct Original: plan a visit sometime soon Suggested revision: come and visit me soon Why it matters: This wording addresses the invitation bullet point more directly and warmly.
- 7. Name the antecedent Original: It made me realise Suggested revision: The wedding made me realise Why it matters: Naming the wedding removes the slightly vague reference of “It”.
- 8. Sentence rewrite Original: Today, I'm writing to tell you about an amazing wedding ceremony I recently attended and it was truly a celebration to remember! Suggested revision: Today, I'm writing to tell you about an amazing wedding ceremony I recently attended; it was truly a celebration to remember! Why it matters: A semicolon correctly joins these two closely related independent clauses.
Suggested Rewrites
- marriage wedding
- the Mehendi ceremony, where the Mehendi ceremony, during which
- Sangeet, which was filled with Sangeet, which featured
- traditional palace venue traditional palace
- food - oh food—oh
- plan a visit sometime soon come and visit me soon
Why this response received Band 9.0
This is a vivid, warmly engaging letter that fulfils every part of the task through well-selected details about the three-day wedding and a natural invitation to visit. The main limitation is minor: a few flourishes and punctuation choices are slightly more emphatic than necessary. The best refinement would be to keep the same personal energy while making the opening and occasional asides a little more economical.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
The letter fully satisfies the purpose, identifies whose wedding it was, provides vivid ceremony details, and extends a convincing personal invitation.
For maximum efficiency, connect the invitation to a more specific prospective visit while preserving the natural informal tone.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas are expertly sequenced across purposeful paragraphs, with the three-day chronology and transition to the invitation creating effortless progression.
The brief reference to receiving the friend's letter could be integrated more directly with the wedding topic for an even tighter opening.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible, vivid, and precise, with natural choices such as "adorned," "ethnic attire," and "mouthwatering" supporting the description.
Maintain this precision while using emphatic flourishes such as "oh, you would have loved it" selectively.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of sentence forms is handled accurately and naturally, with only very minor stylistic punctuation imperfections.
Use standard dash punctuation consistently around parenthetical asides to polish an already highly controlled response.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently attended a marriage ceremony in your country. You have an English-speaking friend who you want to describe your experience of attending this marriage ceremony. Write a letter to this English-speaking friend. In your letter:
- whose marriage ceremony it was
- give details of this marriage ceremony
- invite your friend to come and visit your country
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.