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 David, James and& Ethan, Hope you are all doing wellyou all are doing great. I cannot express how much I enjoyed my time with you guys, and how terribly I miss the time we spent togetherthose days that I spent with you. I received your letter yesterday and was quite surprised to find some of the best pictures we took during our holiday in Singapore. I guess this is the perfectbest opportunity to thank you for a great holiday and the fabulous pictures that willwould remind me of a wonderful trip to Singaporegrand tour to Singapore. As soon as I got back to Australia, I got busy with my thesis paper that I am supposed to submit before the end of the current semester. This is my last semester at the university and I will be free for a while after that and I would love to have you at my place. Why don't you all come and visit me at the end of Decemberat the end of this December? I am sure we will have a magnificent time together. Take careStay fine and keep in touch. Warm wishes, Alex
Why this response received Band 7.0
The warm, personal tone and complete coverage of the holiday, photos, delayed reply, and invitation make the letter engaging and purposeful. The main limitation is that the response is presented as one continuous block, and a few long sentences join ideas too loosely. Organise the message into short paragraphs and separate the thesis explanation from the invitation to improve clarity and natural flow.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly thanks the friends, explains the delayed reply, and gives a specific invitation in a consistently warm register.
Add one practical detail about the proposed visit, such as its likely duration or accommodation arrangements, to develop the invitation further.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message progresses logically from thanks to explanation and invitation, but presenting everything in one block obscures the structure.
Create separate paragraphs for the holiday thanks, the reason for writing late, and the proposed visit.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and generally appropriate for a friendly letter, although a few expressions such as grand tour and stay fine sound slightly unnatural.
Choose more idiomatic informal phrases, such as wonderful trip and take care, to make the voice more natural.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a good range of structures with generally strong accuracy, despite some loose coordination and minor tense awkwardness.
Break up the long sentence about the final semester and future visit so each time relationship is expressed more precisely.
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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.