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
Sample Response
Dear Phillip, It is so great to hear from you guys! I hope you are all doing fineHope you all are doing fine. I wanted to say thatJust so you know, I am delightedso happy and glad that you have sent me all those fabulous photospictures from our short but memorable holidayshort-lived but precious holidays that we enjoyed in your country last month. No doubt, your country, Italy, is far more fascinatingway more exotic and beautiful than I initially expected. The food, lakes, coastline, the Colosseumcolosseums, Venice canals, streets, shopping mallsmall – all were absolutely beautifulso amazingly gorgeous! By the way, I would especially want to thankalso like to especially thank you for organizing the trip to Venice'sVenice canals for me because I thought that I was too tired to visit that exceptionally dreamy place. You all look so great in those pictures! However, I am so sorry that I could not write to you earlier as I got extremelyinsanely busy with my workworks, emails and papers which I needed to take care of immediately after returning from the holidayafter coming back from that holiday. But, I surely would like for all of you to come and visit me in the next month when my office will remain closed for a few days. Best wishesYours sincerely, Roger Stone
Why this response received Band 6.5
The letter is warm and engaging, thanks the friends for the photographs, explains the delayed reply, and extends a clear invitation. Its main limitations are that gratitude for the friends' hospitality and the offer to stay are only implicit, while the single-block structure and heavy use of intensifiers make the message less controlled; prioritise explicitly thanking them for hosting the holiday and inviting them to stay at the writer's home.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three communicative purposes are addressed, but the thanks focus mainly on photographs and one excursion, and the invitation does not explicitly offer accommodation.
Directly thank the friends for hosting the holiday and say that they are invited to stay at the writer's home next month.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message progresses from thanks and holiday memories to the apology and invitation, but it is one dense paragraph with an overextended descriptive list.
Use three short paragraphs aligned with the task bullets and condense the list of Italian attractions.
Lexical Resource
The letter uses lively informal vocabulary, though repeated intensifiers and awkward expressions such as "short-lived holidays" and "my works" reduce naturalness.
Use more restrained wording and natural phrases such as "a short but memorable holiday" and "busy with work."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are generally clear, but article, noun-form, preposition, and sentence-fragment errors occur repeatedly.
Check uncountable nouns and time phrases, using forms such as "work," "the canals of Venice," and "next month."
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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
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.