You have recently moved to a different house. Write a letter to an 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 Maggi, I am writing to let you know that finally, we have moved to a bigger house! We just could not go on living in the two-bedroom apartment now that the children are growing up and we need more space for indoor activities. So we started looking and finally, here we are in our new home. I’m sure you’ll love it. We have three bedrooms now and two balconies. The house comes with spacious bathrooms and a modern kitchen. The kids are happy because there is more space with the big living room and the garden outside. But James is perhaps the happiest of all because this house is near to his office. Why don’t you come round this weekend and see what you think of our new place? We would all love to see you and if the weather is good we can have a barbecue party in the garden. Our new address and phone number are below, so give us a call and let us know when to expect you. Lots of love, Emma
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Place adverb naturally Original: that finally, we have moved Suggested revision: that we have finally moved Why it matters: Placing finally between the auxiliary and main verb removes the awkward interruption.
- 2. Use a direct verb Original: comes with Suggested revision: has Why it matters: Has describes the house's features more directly.
- 3. Remove extra preposition Original: near to his office Suggested revision: near his office Why it matters: Near functions as a preposition here and does not require to.
- 4. Punctuate linked clauses Original: see you and if the weather is good we can Suggested revision: see you, and if the weather is good, we can Why it matters: The commas separate the coordinated clause and its conditional opener clearly.
- 5. Remove redundancy Original: barbecue party Suggested revision: barbecue Why it matters: Barbecue already names the proposed social event, so party is unnecessary.
- 6. Match supplied details Original: Our new address and phone number are below Suggested revision: I’ll send you our new address and phone number Why it matters: The response does not actually include the address or phone number below the letter.
- 7. Sentence rewrite Original: So we started looking and finally, here we are in our new home. Suggested revision: So we started looking and finally found our new home. Why it matters: The rewrite presents the search and its result in a smoother sequence.
- 8. 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: The rewrite makes the features the clear grammatical cause of the extra space.
- 9. Organise the letter Suggested revision: Divide the response into short paragraphs for the reason for moving, the house description, and the invitation. Why it matters: Presenting the entire letter as one paragraph obscures the progression between the three required points.
Suggested Rewrites
- that finally, we have moved that we have finally moved
- comes with has
- near to his office near his office
- see you and if the weather is good we can see you, and if the weather is good, we can
- barbecue party barbecue
- Our new address and phone number are below I’ll send you our new address and phone number
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter fully achieves its friendly purpose, developing the reason for moving, the main features of the new home, and a warm, practical invitation in a natural informal voice. The main limitation is presentation: the entire response is compressed into one paragraph, which weakens visual organisation. The highest-priority improvement is to separate the three communicative stages into clear paragraphs without changing the fluent tone.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully and naturally developed, and the warm informal tone is consistently suited to a close friend.
Retain this complete coverage while ensuring the address and contact details mentioned are actually supplied when appropriate.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas progress logically from the reason for moving to the house description and invitation, but the single-block format limits paragraphing.
Use separate paragraphs for the move, the new house, and the invitation so the organisation is immediately visible.
Lexical Resource
A broad, natural range of vocabulary conveys domestic details and friendly enthusiasm with strong control.
Refine the few less natural combinations, such as replacing "near to his office" with "near his office."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses varied complex structures accurately, with flexible coordination and subordination and only minor imperfections.
Keep the same range while proofreading punctuation around longer coordinated clauses for maximum precision.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently moved to a different house. Write a letter to an 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.