You stayed at your friend’s house when you participated in a business seminar in Australia. You left a file with important documents in the room where you stayed. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - describe the file - say where you left it - ask your friend to return it to you by post
Sample Response
Dear James, I hope this letterHope this letter finds you in good health and high spiritsjovial spirit. It's been almost a week since I left your place, butyour place but the memories still linger as if it werewas just yesterday! I reallyindeed enjoyed my stay at your place and we had a great time togetherand had a great time together. If you had not been a great host, I definitely had to struggle to finish the professional seminar that I attended in Perth, Australia. I owe you oneI owe you a big one. I, however, must have been oblivious while I left for Perth Airport last week. I left a very important file at your house, in the room where I stayedroom I stayed in. I probably left itI possibly kept it in the wooden cabinet I used. It is a medium-sizedsize blue folderfile-holder made of plastic and has my name inscribed on it. I have some important documentsfiles in it including the certificate given by the seminar organisersauthority in Australia. I would really appreciate it if you could post it to my address, preferably via Australia Post, as soon as possible. I will cover the postagebear the courier cost. Take care and see you soon. Warm wishes, Morshed
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter clearly describes the blue file-holder, identifies the wooden cabinet as its likely location, and makes a polite, practical postal request in a friendly tone. Its main limitation is language accuracy: the opening is longer than necessary, and several phrases and conditional forms are awkward. Prioritise stating the lost-file purpose earlier, then use accurate past modals and conditionals while separating the social opening from the description and request.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully and clearly addressed with enough identifying detail and an appropriate friendly request for postal return.
State the postal address or confirm that the friend already has it to make the return request completely actionable.
Coherence and Cohesion
The content moves sensibly from the social opening to the lost item, description, location and request, but it remains one dense paragraph.
Shorten the opening and create separate paragraphs for the file details and the postal request.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficiently varied and mostly natural, though "jovial spirit," "oblivious while I left" and "seminar authority" are awkward choices.
Prefer direct phrases such as "I must have been distracted," "the seminar organisers" and "important documents."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of structures communicates clearly, but the unreal past conditional and several clause constructions contain noticeable errors.
Write "If you had not been such a great host, I would have struggled" and revise "while I was leaving for Perth Airport."
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You stayed at your friend’s house when you participated in a business seminar in Australia. You left a file with important documents in the room where you stayed. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- describe the file
- say where you left it
- ask your friend to return it to you by post
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.