Last month you had a holiday overseas where you stayed with some friends. They have just sent you some photos of your holiday. Write a letter to your friends. In your letter: - thank them for the photos and for the holiday - explain why you didn't - write earlier - invite them to come and stay with you Dear...............,
Sample Response
Dear Mark and Lucy,Dear Mark and Lucy, I hope you're both doing well.Hope you're doing great. I had a great time with you bothguys. Thank you both so muchThank you so much both for the wonderfulremarkable holiday in your city and for the lovely photos that you sent me yesterday. Canada is certainly a spectacular country with an extraordinary landscape, vibrant culture and wildlife, particularly up in the area where you are. The holiday is over, but I'll never forget the way you treated me - it was fabulous. I'm sorry it has taken me so longSorry, it has taken me so long to write back and thank you. Almost as soon as I landed back in Italy, I got extremely busy with my office work. Besides, a severe cold forced me to take a few days off from the office, and I struggled to regain momentum at work and at home. I would like to invite both of you to visit Italy. We'll be celebrating our parents' 40th wedding anniversaryour parent's 40th marriage anniversary next month, and I hope you can join us for this special occasionI expect you on this special occasion. I'll take you to some of the famous places in Italy including Rome. Best known for housing ancient Roman structures and the Vatican City, Rome has stunning cathedrals and Renaissance architecture. I am sure you'll enjoy your time here. I would love to see you both soon. Take care and write back. Warm wishes, Emily
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter fully addresses the three purposes with a warm, convincing tone, and its invitation is supported by appealing plans for the visit. Its main limitation is a small number of awkward expressions and grammatical slips that slightly reduce precision. The highest-priority improvement is to proofread possessives and refine less natural collocations while retaining the clear, personable detail.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All bullet points are fully addressed with relevant detail and an appropriately friendly, persuasive tone.
Make the invitation even more practical by adding a possible date or accommodation detail.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter progresses naturally from thanks through the explanation to a well-developed invitation, with clear linking throughout.
Use visible paragraph breaks to separate the three communicative purposes more distinctly.
Lexical Resource
A wide and generally precise vocabulary conveys gratitude, description, and invitation effectively, despite a few slightly strained collocations.
Replace less natural combinations such as "remarkable holiday" with more idiomatic phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A broad range of complex structures is handled accurately, with only occasional non-impeding errors.
Proofread possessive forms, particularly "parent's 40th marriage anniversary," and polish minor sentence-level awkwardness.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Last month you had a holiday overseas where you stayed with some friends. They have just sent you some photos of your holiday. Write a letter to your friends. In your letter:
- thank them for the photos and for the holiday
- explain why you didn't
- write earlier
- invite them to come and stay with you Dear...............,
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.