A friend is going on holiday soon and has asked you to recommend a destination that you have visited. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - recommend a good place for the holiday - say where you stayed - describe what you did there - describe what the food was like
Sample Response
Dear Samantha, I'm so glad to receive your letter yesterday in which you stated that you are planning for a week-long trip. I've got a perfect place in my mind just for you and John. I'm sure you want to make your holiday trip memorable. I had been to Copenhagen, Denmark last summer and it was a great place to be. Copenhagen is a place I cherished so much. It has so much style and beauty, and a dose of good fresh air. I stayed at the Hotel Sanders, opposite the stage door of the Royal Danish Theatre. It had glamorous touches in an otherwise homely space. Their menu is celestial. The first place I visited was Rosenborg Castle- which is 400 years old and was built in the Renaissance style. The Town Hall is another magnificent place on Radhus Square where the zero kilometre stone is located. I absolutely loved a 3-hour sightseeing tour of Copenhagen by bus and boat. I recommend you do the same and see the Danish capital's famous attractions on a narrated coach tour. It would not cost you much but you will love the experience. Finally, I must mention the food I enjoyed there. With so many hot dog stands all over the city, it’s not hard to notice locals’ love for sausages. Not only they are super tasty but also a cheap solution to fill hunger while roaming around the city. One food you must enjoy is Falafel. I wish you a great trip. Take care and write me back when you are free. Warm wishes, Barbara
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Match past time Original: I'm so glad to receive Suggested revision: I was so glad to receive Why it matters: Yesterday requires the past tense for the reaction to receiving the letter.
- 2. Use friendly register Original: stated Suggested revision: said Why it matters: Said is more natural than stated in a letter to a friend.
- 3. Remove extra preposition Original: planning for a week-long trip Suggested revision: planning a week-long trip Why it matters: Plan takes a direct object in this construction.
- 4. Use fixed expression Original: a perfect place in my mind Suggested revision: the perfect place in mind Why it matters: Have a place in mind is the standard expression.
- 5. Remove redundancy Original: holiday trip Suggested revision: holiday Why it matters: Holiday already conveys the idea of a leisure trip.
- 6. Use simple past Original: I had been to Suggested revision: I went to Why it matters: A completed visit at a stated past time requires the simple past, not the past perfect.
- 7. Use natural informal phrase Original: a place I cherished so much Suggested revision: a place I really loved Why it matters: The replacement sounds more natural in a friendly recommendation.
- 8. Use natural description Original: a dose of good fresh air Suggested revision: plenty of fresh air Why it matters: Plenty of fresh air is the idiomatic phrase for this positive feature.
- 9. Match singular hotel Original: Their Suggested revision: Its Why it matters: The antecedent Hotel Sanders is singular and takes its.
- 10. Use clear food adjective Original: celestial Suggested revision: excellent Why it matters: Excellent communicates the positive evaluation more clearly than celestial.
- 11. Fix clause punctuation Original: Rosenborg Castle- Suggested revision: Rosenborg Castle, Why it matters: A comma, not a hyphen, should introduce the following non-defining relative clause.
- 12. Hyphenate compound modifier Original: zero kilometre stone Suggested revision: zero-kilometre stone Why it matters: The compound measurement modifies stone and should be hyphenated.
Suggested Rewrites
- I'm so glad to receive I was so glad to receive
- stated said
- planning for a week-long trip planning a week-long trip
- a perfect place in my mind the perfect place in mind
- holiday trip holiday
- I had been to I went to
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter is lively, friendly, and thoroughly covers the destination, accommodation, activities, and food with appealing specific detail. The main weakness is presentation and language control: the entire message forms one dense block, while several tense, word-order, and collocation errors interrupt the otherwise fluent tone. The priority is to divide the content into purposeful paragraphs and correct structures such as 'Not only are they ... but they are also ...'.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
All four bullet points are fully addressed with relevant detail, and the warm informal tone suits a letter to a friend.
Make the recommendation even more personal by linking one or two activities directly to Samantha and John's interests.
Coherence and Cohesion
The content follows a logical order, but presenting the entire letter as one block weakens its organisation and readability.
Separate the recommendation, accommodation and activities, food, and closing into clearly focused paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and often vivid, though several collocations such as 'planning for' and 'fill hunger' are unnatural.
Use idiomatic combinations such as 'planning a trip', 'a place in mind', and 'satisfy your hunger'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A useful range of sentence forms is generally controlled, but tense selection and word order are occasionally inaccurate.
Review past-tense choices and use the correct paired structure 'Not only are they ... but they are also ...'.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A friend is going on holiday soon and has asked you to recommend a destination that you have visited. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- recommend a good place for the holiday
- say where you stayed
- describe what you did there
- describe what the food was like
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.