You have recently moved to a different house, and you want to give the news to an English-speaking friend who lives in another country. Write a letter to this English-speaking friend. In your letter: - explain why you have moved - describe the new house - invite your friend to come and visit
Sample Response
Dear Charlotte, I'm writing to let you know that at last, we've moved to a bigger house! We just couldn't go on living in the two-bedroom bungalow now that the twins are growing up and the new baby has arrived. So we started looking - and one thing led to another and finally, here we're in our new home. I'm sure you'll like it. We have three bedrooms now and a very modern bathroom and kitchen. The kids are happy because there is more space with the big living room and the garden outside. But John is the happiest of all because he doesn't need to do much decorating. Why don't you come round this weekend and see what you think of our new place? We would all love to see you. If the weather is favourable, we can even have a barbecue in the garden. Our new address and phone number are below, so give us a call and let us know when to expect you. With lots of love, Julia
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use natural placement Original: at last, we've moved Suggested revision: we've finally moved Why it matters: Finally sits more naturally before the main verb in this sentence.
- 2. Clarify the comparison Original: the happiest of all Suggested revision: the happiest of us all Why it matters: Adding us makes the group being compared explicit.
- 3. Match friendly tone Original: favourable Suggested revision: good Why it matters: Good sounds more natural than favourable in an informal letter to a friend.
- 4. Use conditional modal Original: can even have Suggested revision: could even have Why it matters: Could fits the conditional situation introduced by if more naturally.
- 5. Sentence rewrite Original: So we started looking - and one thing led to another and finally, here we're in our new home. Suggested revision: So we started looking, and one thing led to another; finally, here we are in our new home. Why it matters: The rewrite corrects the word order and separates the sequence of ideas more clearly.
- 6. Sentence rewrite Original: The kids are happy because there is more space with the big living room and the garden outside. Suggested revision: The kids are happy because the large living room and garden give them more space. Why it matters: This version expresses the relationship between the features and the extra space more directly.
- 7. Sentence rewrite Original: Why don't you come round this weekend and see what you think of our new place? Suggested revision: Why don't you come and visit when you are next in the country and see what you think of our new place? Why it matters: The revised invitation is more plausible for a friend who lives in another country.
- 8. Divide the letter Suggested revision: Put the greeting and sign-off on separate lines and divide the body into short paragraphs for the reason, house description, and invitation. Why it matters: Paragraphing around the three purposes would make the friendly letter easier to navigate.
Suggested Rewrites
- at last, we've moved we've finally moved
- the happiest of all the happiest of us all
- favourable good
- can even have could even have
- So we started looking - and one thing led to another and finally, here we're in our new home. So we started looking, and one thing led to another; finally, here we are in our new home.
- The kids are happy because there is more space with the big living room and the garden outside. The kids are happy because the large living room and garden give them more space.
Why this response received Band 8.0
This is a warm, natural letter that fully explains the move, describes the new home, and extends a convincing invitation with relevant personal detail. Its main weakness is presentation: the ideas are delivered in one continuous block, and a few awkward constructions reduce polish. The highest priority is to divide the letter into purposeful paragraphs and refine isolated phrasing errors while preserving the friendly tone.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
The letter fully achieves its purpose, covers all three bullet points, and develops them with convincing personal detail in an appropriate informal tone.
Make the invitation even more practical by suggesting a specific time and briefly indicating how the friend could reach the new home.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message progresses logically from the reason for moving to the house description and invitation, but the single-block presentation weakens paragraphing.
Use separate paragraphs for the reason, the description, and the invitation so each stage of the message is immediately clear.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied, natural, and well suited to a friendly letter, with effective phrases such as “one thing led to another” and “come round.”
Refine occasional imprecise combinations, such as “more space with the big living room,” to make the wording consistently exact.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A good range of simple and complex structures is used accurately, with only occasional awkwardness that does not impede meaning.
Correct isolated constructions such as “here we're in our new home” and vary sentence boundaries to improve grammatical polish.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently moved to a different house, and you want to give the news to an English-speaking friend who lives in another country. Write a letter to this English-speaking friend. In your letter:
- explain why you have moved
- describe the new house
- invite your friend to come and visit
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.