Recently you went to a local restaurant with your family and were very satisfied with the food and service. Write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. In your letter: - tell the editor about the restaurant - describe the meal you and your family had - explain why you think the restaurant is worth visiting
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am a regular reader of your daily newspaper “Times of India.” I am writing this letter to inform you about an authentic restaurant called “Step and Eat” which I have visited recently with my family. I reckon this is a worth visiting place for others and hoping that you would write a review on this eatery to let others know about this fabulous place. Located on Smith Street near the National Park, it is a multi-cuisine restaurant. I went there with my family last Sunday. As we are fond of Italian food, my husband ordered an Italian meal. The meal comprised of a delicious soup, a signature dish of the hotel known as mixed vegetable spaghetti and at the end we had a mouth savouring dessert called Green Marshmallows which had a perfect creamy texture. It was one of the memorable dinners I have ever had with my family. The restaurant is worth visiting for everyone in the town because it offers a wide range of varieties in food to satisfy the human palate. Moreover, it maintains proper cleanliness and hygiene. The staff members are so polite, co-operative and professional - which gives a diligent feeling to the customers. Hence, I request you to write an article or review on this restaurant so that more people could come to know and visit it. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, Vishwa Vinutna
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. State the purpose directly Original: I am writing this letter to inform you about Suggested revision: I am writing to tell you about Why it matters: This removes the redundant phrase 'this letter' while preserving the formal purpose.
- 2. Use simple past Original: which I have visited recently Suggested revision: which I recently visited Why it matters: A completed visit at a stated recent time takes the simple past.
- 3. Clarify the cuisine range Original: multi-cuisine restaurant Suggested revision: restaurant serving several cuisines Why it matters: This expresses the variety of available cuisines more naturally.
- 4. Use concise preference verb Original: As we are fond of Suggested revision: As we enjoy Why it matters: 'Enjoy' states the family's food preference directly and naturally.
- 5. Add superlative form Original: one of the memorable dinners Suggested revision: one of the most memorable dinners Why it matters: The structure 'one of the' requires a superlative when comparing the dinner with all previous ones.
- 6. Use worth a visit Original: worth visiting for everyone in the town Suggested revision: worth a visit for everyone in town Why it matters: 'Worth a visit' is the natural construction for recommending a place.
- 7. Remove redundant range phrase Original: wide range of varieties in food Suggested revision: wide variety of dishes Why it matters: 'Wide variety' already expresses range, and restaurants offer dishes rather than varieties in food.
- 8. Use natural taste phrase Original: to satisfy the human palate Suggested revision: to suit different tastes Why it matters: This is a concise and natural way to describe broad customer appeal.
- 9. Use hygiene collocation Original: maintains proper cleanliness and hygiene Suggested revision: maintains high standards of cleanliness and hygiene Why it matters: A restaurant maintains standards of cleanliness rather than 'proper cleanliness'.
- 10. Use measured emphasis Original: so Suggested revision: very Why it matters: 'Very' is more suitable than the conversational intensifier 'so' in a newspaper letter.
- 11. Use modern spelling Original: co-operative Suggested revision: cooperative Why it matters: 'Cooperative' is the standard unhyphenated modern spelling.
- 12. Fix clause punctuation Original: professional - which Suggested revision: professional, which Why it matters: A comma, rather than a spaced hyphen, should introduce the following relative clause.
Suggested Rewrites
- I am writing this letter to inform you about I am writing to tell you about
- which I have visited recently which I recently visited
- multi-cuisine restaurant restaurant serving several cuisines
- As we are fond of As we enjoy
- one of the memorable dinners one of the most memorable dinners
- worth visiting for everyone in the town worth a visit for everyone in town
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter gives a vivid account of the restaurant, meal, service, and reasons for recommending it, and its request to the editor is clear and relevant. The main limitation is frequent awkward phrasing, which sometimes makes otherwise varied vocabulary sound unnatural, while the continuous-block format weakens readability. Prioritise idiomatic collocations and accurate sentence construction, then organise the description and recommendation into distinct paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully addressed with relevant details about the location, meal, facilities, staff, and value to potential visitors.
Keep the detailed coverage but state the request for a newspaper review more directly at the start of the letter.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response moves logically from its purpose to the restaurant and meal description before explaining the recommendation, though some ideas are repeated.
Divide the purpose, meal description, and reasons for recommending the restaurant into focused paragraphs and avoid repeating ‘worth visiting’.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary shows range and an attempt at vivid description, but combinations such as ‘a worth visiting place’, ‘mouth savouring’, and ‘a diligent feeling’ are unnatural.
Choose idiomatic phrases such as ‘well worth visiting’, ‘mouth-watering dessert’, and ‘a welcoming atmosphere’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses varied sentence forms, but errors in verb patterns, comparison structures, and clause coordination occur often enough to reduce control.
Revise structures such as ‘I hope you will write a review’ and ‘one of the most memorable dinners I have ever had’.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Recently you went to a local restaurant with your family and were very satisfied with the food and service. Write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. In your letter:
- tell the editor about the restaurant
- describe the meal you and your family had
- explain why you think the restaurant is worth visiting
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.