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, I took one of your buses from Dandenong Station to Melbourne City Centre last Monday at around 9.00 am but unfortunately, left my handbag in it. I hopeI am hoping that you canwould locate my bag and allow me to collect itlet me fetch it from your office in Melbourne. The bus that I took (number AF45871) last Monday was more than half an hour late. Due to this, the bus was more crowded than usualovercrowded than usual. My bag was too heavy to carry and therefore I put it on the overheadtop shelf. Regrettably, when I got off the bus, I left my bag behindforgot my bag because of the rush and overcrowdingdue to the rush and crowd. This is a red ladies' baga red ladies bag with two handles and a pink ribbonwith two handles with a pink colour ribbon on the frontin front of it. Some important documents, some cash, a notebook and a USB stick were in it. The contents are particularlyreally important because they are related to work. Therefore, I would really appreciate an update on the whereaboutsyour update regarding the whereabouts of this bag. Please do not hesitate to contact me on +02-056745777 or email me at [email address]. I will come to your office to pick it up in personpick it personally if it is foundonce you have it. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. Yours faithfully, Shanika Shani
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter has a clear recovery purpose and fully identifies the journey, bag, contents, and preferred collection arrangement, giving the company enough information to act. Its main limitation is presentation: the response is one dense block and contains a few awkward comparisons and collocations. The priority is to divide the journey, item description, and requested action into separate paragraphs while using more natural phrases such as “more crowded than usual” and “collect it in person.”
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully developed with precise journey details, a useful description of the valuables, and clear instructions for contact and collection.
State the request to check the bus or lost-property office explicitly so the company’s first required action is unmistakable.
Coherence and Cohesion
The content progresses logically from the journey to the loss, bag description, and collection plan, but the single-block format weakens information grouping.
Use separate paragraphs for identifying the journey, describing the bag and contents, and explaining the requested response.
Lexical Resource
The letter uses a good range of specific travel, item, and collection vocabulary, although several collocations are awkward.
Use natural forms such as “more crowded than usual,” “a red women’s handbag,” “an update on its whereabouts,” and “collect it in person.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex sentences is mostly controlled, with minor errors in comparison structures, modality, punctuation, and noun forms.
Review comparative forms and relative clauses, and use “I hope you can locate” rather than the less natural “I am hoping that you would locate.”
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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.