A friend has agreed to look after your house and pet while you are on holiday. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - give contact details for when you are away - give instructions on how to care for your pet - describe other household duties
Sample Response
Dear Sam, I feel so relieved as you've stepped up to take care of my place and my dog while I am on vacationwhen I plan to go on a vacation. I can't thank you enough. To be honest, I was really hoping that you'd respond to my request when I posted it on Facebook. I understand that taking care of an unfamiliar house and petnew stuff can be overwhelming. If you need to reach me for anything while I'm away, just send a message either on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. I was told by the resort in which I shall be staying, uninterrupted internet access is available there. My mobile phone, however, will remain switched off. Otherwise,If not, I'll keep receivingkeep on receiving calls from work which will ultimately defeat the purpose of this getaway. As for Tommy, the dog, he doesn't really need much care. Just ensure that he gets three meals a day at six- to eight-hour intervals6-8 hour intervals. Also, let him outsidelet him be outside in the evening whenever possible so that he can play with the ball. Also, don't forget to bathe him, preferably every other day,bathe him preferably every other day so that he doesn't stink. I know that you won't be staying at my house full-timeyou'll not stay at my house full time so there aren't many chores that you need to do. Some small things like emptying the trash can, cleaning the parking area and watering the plants need to be done regularly. Once again, I really appreciate the help you are extending to me and hope to return this favour sometime. Best regards, Rouhullah
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter fully addresses the practical arrangements and maintains a warm, natural tone, with especially useful detail about contacting the writer and caring for the dog. Its main weakness is presentation as one continuous block, alongside a few awkward sentence constructions. The highest-priority improvement is to organise the contact, pet-care, and household instructions into distinct paragraphs while polishing the less natural phrasing.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is fully achieved through an appropriate friendly tone and clear, well-developed coverage of all three bullet points.
Make the contact arrangements even more practical by specifying the preferred account or response expectations for urgent messages.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information progresses logically from contact details to pet care and household duties, but the lack of paragraph breaks weakens the organisation.
Use separate paragraphs for the opening, contact arrangements, pet instructions, household duties, and closing.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is varied and generally natural, with effective phrases such as "stepped up," "overwhelming," and "defeat the purpose of this getaway."
Replace vague or slightly awkward expressions such as "new stuff" and "the help you are extending to me" with more precise natural wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of sentence forms is used with strong control, although a few clauses are awkwardly joined or phrased.
Revise constructions such as the sentence beginning "I was told by the resort" so that reporting clauses and dependent clauses are linked accurately.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A friend has agreed to look after your house and pet while you are on holiday. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- give contact details for when you are away
- give instructions on how to care for your pet
- describe other household duties
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.