You recently travelled by bus from your hometown to a different city and left some valuable items on the bus. Write a letter to the bus company. In your letter: - explain that you left valuable items on the bus - identify the journey on which you left them - tell the company what to do if the items are found
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, Last Friday, I travelled from Cubao Station to Ayala Bus Bay on one of your buses. Unfortunately, I left a bag on the bus and hoping that you would notify me of the whereabouts of the bag so that I can retrieve it. In relation to the journey that I made, I embarked on a bus at the Cubao Station (Bus No. CA234) on 17th April 2021, at around 8:00 in the morning, and took off at Ayala Station. I checked in the bag and declared its contents while checking in. When I realised a few hours later that I had left my bagWhen I realised that I left my bag after a few hours, I triedI have tried to locate the bus at Ayala Stationat the Ayala Station, but I failed to do so. It is a medium-sizedsize black backpack with white straps and a pouch onin the front. It has a panda luggage tag showingluggage tag that shows my name and contact details. The bag contains some important documents and a 14-inch black Toshiba laptop with a black leather cover. The contentscontent of the bag is essentialreally important to me and my work and I need themthose urgently. If you have already found it, kindly call me at 743-9223014 or email me atdo send an email at [email address]. I will arrange to collect it from your companyarrange a pick up with your company. However, if the bag can be sentif it is possible to be sent via a courier service, that would be very helpfulit will be a great help. I am willing to payI am ready to bear the delivery charges. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. Your help would be greatly appreciatedwill be highly appreciated. Yours faithfully, Arlyn Crescini
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter achieves its purpose clearly, identifies the journey and missing bag in useful detail, and gives the company practical contact and delivery options in an appropriately formal tone. Its main weakness is control of sentence structure and tense, while the single-block presentation also weakens readability; prioritise dividing the letter into purposeful paragraphs and revising awkward verb forms and collocations.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all three bullet points are fully covered, and the formal tone is consistently appropriate.
Remove or clarify the unlikely detail about checking in the bag so every detail supports a credible request.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from the journey to the bag description and requested action, but the letter is presented as one dense block and some linking is mechanical.
Use separate paragraphs for the journey, item description, and requested response to make the progression easier to follow.
Lexical Resource
A good range of specific vocabulary describes the journey, bag, and recovery arrangements, although several collocations are awkward or imprecise.
Prefer natural phrases such as got off the bus, arrange collection, and the contents are important.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses varied sentence forms, but recurring errors with clause construction, tense, agreement, and conditionals reduce accuracy.
Edit each complex sentence for a complete main clause and maintain consistent past tense when recounting the journey.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently travelled by bus from your hometown to a different city and left some valuable items on the bus. Write a letter to the bus company. In your letter:
- explain that you left valuable items on the bus
- identify the journey on which you left them
- tell the company what to do if the items are found
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.