You have recently travelled on a train and unfortunately left your luggage. Write a letter to the manager of the Lost and Found department of the railway regarding the luggage you accidentally left on the train. In your letter: - give details of your train trip - describe the luggage you left on the train - say what actions you want him/her to take
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing this letter to ask for your help in locatingreach out to you to seek help to find a piece of lost luggage of mine which I believe I leftwhich, I am assuming, I left by mistake on one of your trains.
I was travelling on Monday morning on the “TVG Bullet Express”by “TVG Bullet Express” that left “Kuchin” railway station at around 7:30 am and was bound forheaded towards the city of “Freetown”. My destination was “Anniston” station, and that was where I got offexactly where I got off the train. But, unfortunately, I might have left one of my luggage on the train by mistake, trying to leave the station in a hurry.
The luggage that I lost was medium in size, maroon in colour and made by "TravelPro"made by the "TravelPro" brand. The bag was made of some waterproof, polyester fabric and contained mostly clothing, cosmetics and books when I lost it, and the bag has short handles.
So, please follow the standard procedures to find my luggage and send it to me at the address I provided here. I will pay the shipping cost of the parcel on delivery. For your convenience, I have enclosed a copyI am sending a copy of my train ticket.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Yours faithfully,
Peter James
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter is clear, appropriately formal, and thoroughly covers the journey, the bag’s identifying features, and the requested action. The main limitation is occasional grammatical and lexical awkwardness, including countability and tense problems, which slightly weakens an otherwise well-organised response. Prioritise accurate noun forms and consistent verb choices, then streamline repetitive wording to make the request more natural and precise.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response fully covers the trip, gives numerous useful identifying details, and clearly requests recovery and delivery in a suitable formal register.
Specify a direct contact method or reference number so the requested follow-up action is even more practical.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is organised into purposeful paragraphs that move logically from the loss to identification details and the requested action.
Tighten repeated references to losing the bag and avoid unnecessary linking words so the progression is more economical.
Lexical Resource
There is a good range of specific vocabulary for travel, materials, and delivery, although some combinations are imprecise or repetitive.
Use natural phrases such as “a piece of luggage”, “TravelPro-branded”, and “delivery costs” to improve lexical precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The writer uses a variety of complex structures successfully, but countability, tense consistency, and clause attachment errors are noticeable.
Correct forms such as “one of my bags” and maintain consistent past tense when describing the luggage at the time it was lost.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently travelled on a train and unfortunately left your luggage. Write a letter to the manager of the Lost and Found department of the railway regarding the luggage you accidentally left on the train. In your letter:
- give details of your train trip
- describe the luggage you left on the train
- say what actions you want him/her to take
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.