You recently went to a movie theatre to enjoy a movie, but unfortunately, you left your jacket there. Write a letter to the manager of the movie theatre about the jacket. In your letter: - describe the jacket - describe where you were seated - explain what you want the manager to do about it
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
My name is Justin Phillip, and I am reaching out to you to ask for a favour. I left my jacket at your theatre a couple of days ago, and I would like you to help me get it back.
I left my jacket at your movie theatre by mistake when I went there to watch a movie on 19th August. Not sure why or exactly how I could have possibly made such a silly mistake, but I guess that I might have just left it by my side unconsciously as I was probably feeling a bit too hot inside the theatre.
To give you some information about my jacket, it is black in colour, fully made of leather, and it also had a round neck. The jacket does not have any zipper, instead, it has some buttons. And as far as where I could have possibly left my jacket, I was sitting on the third row, from behind, on the first floor.
Please try to find my jacket, and mail it to me in a courier mail service at your earliest convenience. I have given my address with this letter. I would be much obliged.
Yours faithfully,
Justin Phillip
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use a formal phrase Original: reaching out to you Suggested revision: writing to you Why it matters: “Writing to you” is more direct and appropriate in a formal letter to a manager.
- 2. Use formal wording Original: help me get it back Suggested revision: help me recover it Why it matters: “Recover it” is more concise and formal than the phrasal expression used here.
- 3. Fix the collocation Original: fully made of leather Suggested revision: made entirely of leather Why it matters: “Made entirely of leather” is the natural way to describe the material.
- 4. Keep the present tense Original: had Suggested revision: has Why it matters: Use the present tense because the jacket still has this feature.
- 5. Fix article and splice Original: any zipper, instead, Suggested revision: a zipper; instead, Why it matters: The singular noun needs “a,” and a semicolon correctly separates the independent clauses.
- 6. Use the natural phrase Original: third row, from behind Suggested revision: third row from the back Why it matters: “Third row from the back” is the standard expression for this seating location.
- 7. Fix the delivery phrase Original: in a courier mail service Suggested revision: by courier Why it matters: “By courier” is the natural and concise way to state the delivery method.
- 8. Clarify where it appears Original: given my address with this letter Suggested revision: included my address in this letter Why it matters: “Included” and “in” express the location of the address more precisely.
- 9. State the request formally Original: ask for a favour Suggested revision: request your assistance Why it matters: This is more precise and appropriately formal for a letter to a manager.
- 10. Remove repeated identification Original: My name is Justin Phillip, and Suggested revision: Delete Why it matters: The writer's name already appears in the sign-off, so this opening identification is unnecessary.
- 11. Use concise description Original: black in colour Suggested revision: black Why it matters: The word “black” already expresses colour, making the extra phrase redundant.
- 12. Describe the fastening precisely Original: some buttons Suggested revision: button fastenings Why it matters: This describes the jacket's closure more precisely than “some buttons”.
Suggested Rewrites
- reaching out to you writing to you
- help me get it back help me recover it
- fully made of leather made entirely of leather
- had has
- any zipper, instead, a zipper; instead,
- third row, from behind third row from the back
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter has a clear formal purpose and covers the jacket's appearance, its likely location, and the requested return action with enough practical detail. Its main weakness is uneven language control, especially in the speculative explanation, where fragments, repetition, and awkward collocations reduce precision. The highest-priority improvement is to replace that overlong speculation with a concise account and make the seating and courier instructions more exact.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are addressed in an appropriately formal letter, though the seat description and return instructions could be more precise.
Give an exact seat or auditorium identifier and specify whether the manager should contact the writer before arranging delivery.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is logically organised into clear functional paragraphs, but the speculative second paragraph is repetitive and disrupts the otherwise direct progression.
Condense the explanation of how the jacket was left and move quickly to the identifying and location details.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the task, but phrases such as "left it by my side unconsciously" and "in a courier mail service" are awkward.
Use more natural service-language collocations, such as "left it beside my seat" and "send it to me by courier".
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Simple and complex structures generally communicate clearly, but fragments, comma splices, article choices, and tense inconsistency recur.
Revise sentence boundaries and maintain present tense when describing the jacket, especially around "Not sure why" and "instead".
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently went to a movie theatre to enjoy a movie, but unfortunately, you left your jacket there. Write a letter to the manager of the movie theatre about the jacket. In your letter:
- describe the jacket
- describe where you were seated
- explain what you want the manager to do about it
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.