You are trying to improve your knowledge of a language that is not your first language. You have a friend who speaks it fluently. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - explain why you want to improve your knowledge of the language - ask for suggestions on how to learn more quickly - propose meeting your friend to talk about it
Sample Response
Dear Leo, I hope you're doing great. I've recently joined a multinational company, and many of my colleagues speak Spanish in the workplace. I studied basic Spanish in high school and have always felt a fascination with this language. Moreover, I believe, I would work more efficiently if I speak Spanish with my coworkers. So I thought it was time to get in touch with you and get some help since you’re a fluent speaker of Spanish. I wonder if you could give me a few tips on how to speed up my Spanish learning? Do you think I should get a self-study book, or watch some video tutorials from YouTube? Sometimes I think about getting enrolled in a Spanish language course, but I'm not sure if it'll suit me. I think you can guide me on this. I'll be looking forward to your tips and advice. If you’re going to be in the area in the next few days, we could get together, and I could pick your brains about this subject. We haven't been to an authentic Chinese restaurant for a while, and we could discuss it in detail over dinner someday. I hope to see you soon. Take care and stay fine. Yours truly,
Stephen
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Separate greeting and body Original: Dear Leo, I hope Suggested revision: Dear Leo, I hope Why it matters: The opening sentence should begin on a new line after the salutation.
- 2. Use natural fascination phrase Original: felt a fascination with Suggested revision: been fascinated by Why it matters: Be fascinated by is the natural collocation.
- 3. Remove incorrect comma Original: Moreover, I believe, Suggested revision: Moreover, I believe Why it matters: A comma should not separate the reporting verb believe from its following clause.
- 4. Use hypothetical form Original: speak Suggested revision: spoke Why it matters: The hypothetical result with would requires a past-form verb in the if-clause.
- 5. Avoid repeated get Original: get in touch with you and get some help Suggested revision: contact you for some help Why it matters: The replacement removes repetition while preserving the friendly request.
- 6. Use concise language label Original: fluent speaker of Spanish Suggested revision: fluent Spanish speaker Why it matters: The compound noun phrase is more concise and natural.
- 7. Use precise action verb Original: get Suggested revision: buy Why it matters: Buy states the proposed learning action more precisely than get.
- 8. Use platform preposition Original: from Suggested revision: on Why it matters: Content is watched on a platform, not from it.
- 9. Use concise gerund Original: getting enrolled in Suggested revision: enrolling in Why it matters: Enrolling expresses the action directly without an unnecessary passive construction.
- 10. Make request more natural Original: I think you can guide me on this Suggested revision: I would value your advice on this Why it matters: The replacement sounds warmer and more natural in a letter to a friend.
- 11. Use standard future phrase Original: I'll be looking forward to Suggested revision: I look forward to Why it matters: I look forward to is the standard expression in this context.
- 12. Avoid overlapping nouns Original: tips and advice Suggested revision: advice Why it matters: Tips and advice overlap in meaning, so one noun is sufficient.
Suggested Rewrites
- Dear Leo, I hope Dear Leo, I hope
- felt a fascination with been fascinated by
- Moreover, I believe, Moreover, I believe
- speak spoke
- get in touch with you and get some help contact you for some help
- fluent speaker of Spanish fluent Spanish speaker
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter’s strongest feature is its complete, friendly response: it explains the workplace motivation, asks about several learning methods, and proposes a natural dinner meeting. Its main limitation is organisation, because all three purposes are compressed into one body paragraph, while a few conditional and collocational errors reduce polish. Prioritise separating the reasons, advice request, and meeting plan, then correct forms such as ‘if I could speak Spanish’.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully developed with clear personal reasons, specific requests for advice, and a suitable informal meeting proposal.
Make the meeting arrangement slightly more definite by suggesting a particular day or inviting Leo to choose one.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas progress naturally from motivation to learning options and a meeting, but the entire body is presented as one long paragraph.
Use separate paragraphs for the reasons, the request for advice, and the proposed dinner meeting.
Lexical Resource
The letter uses a flexible and appropriately informal range, including natural phrases such as ‘get in touch’ and ‘pick your brains’, with a few awkward combinations.
Replace phrases such as ‘felt a fascination’, ‘Spanish learning’, and ‘get enrolled’ with more natural alternatives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A varied range of sentence structures is mostly controlled, though the conditional ‘would work more efficiently if I speak’ and some punctuation are inaccurate.
Use a consistent hypothetical form—‘would work more efficiently if I could speak Spanish’—and remove unnecessary commas.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are trying to improve your knowledge of a language that is not your first language. You have a friend who speaks it fluently. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- explain why you want to improve your knowledge of the language
- ask for suggestions on how to learn more quickly
- propose meeting your friend to talk about it
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.