You have recently changed your job and started working for a new company. Write a letter to an English-speaking friend. In your letter: - explain why you have changed your previous job - describe your new job - tell him/her your other news
Sample Response
Dear Jane, Hope you're doing well. It's been so long since I've heard from you. I was thinking of you the other day when I saw my neighbour's garden full of tulips. I am sure you are still a passionate gardener. You would be glad to hear that I have recently taken a job and moved to Ottawa, Canada. As you know, I was eagerly looking forward to settling in Ottowa with my family. So when I got a job offer from one of the prestigious hospitals in Ottawa, I accepted it. I liked my previous job in Ontario but had been stuck in the same position for a long and was not getting many chances to further my career. That's why I changed my job and so far I find my new responsibilities exciting. I am a general physician at the hospital and I have to look after the visiting patients to diagnose and suggest treatment of illnesses. Sometimes I need to do some minor surgery. I must say that this place is absolutely amazing and the people are friendly, kind and accommodating. Aside from that, Ottawa is celebrating Tulip Festival annually in May, during the springtime. I know your passion for tulips and gardening. I bet you would definitely like it here. So far, I’m enjoying my life here and all the new experiences. I hope you could visit us soon. How are things back home in the United Kingdom? I am eagerly waiting to hear from you soon. Warm wishes, Eva
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Add sentence subject Original: Hope you're doing well. Suggested revision: I hope you're doing well. Why it matters: Adding the subject makes the opening a complete sentence.
- 2. Clarify job change Original: taken a job Suggested revision: accepted a new job Why it matters: Accepted a new job expresses the recent change more precisely.
- 3. Wrong article pattern Original: one of the prestigious hospitals Suggested revision: a prestigious hospital Why it matters: One of would require a defined plural group, such as one of the most prestigious hospitals.
- 4. Misspelled city Original: Ottowa Suggested revision: Ottawa Why it matters: The Canadian city is spelled Ottawa.
- 5. Incomplete time phrase Original: for a long Suggested revision: for a long time Why it matters: The duration phrase requires the noun time.
- 6. Use clinical wording Original: look after the visiting patients Suggested revision: examine patients Why it matters: Examine patients describes a physician's clinical responsibility more precisely.
- 7. Faulty medical collocation Original: diagnose and suggest treatment of illnesses Suggested revision: diagnose illnesses and recommend treatment Why it matters: Diagnose illnesses and recommend treatment uses the correct verb-object combinations.
- 8. Use precise verb Original: do some minor surgery Suggested revision: perform minor surgery Why it matters: Perform surgery is the standard collocation.
- 9. Habitual present tense Original: Ottawa is celebrating Tulip Festival annually Suggested revision: Ottawa celebrates the Tulip Festival annually Why it matters: The simple present expresses an annual event and the festival name needs the definite article.
- 10. Remove redundant certainty Original: I bet you would definitely like it Suggested revision: I bet you would like it Why it matters: I bet and definitely express the same certainty, so using both is redundant.
- 11. Use friendly contraction Original: You would be glad to hear Suggested revision: You'll be glad to hear Why it matters: The contraction creates a more natural tone for a letter to a friend.
- 12. Clarify earlier intention Original: was eagerly looking forward to settling Suggested revision: had been eagerly looking forward to settling Why it matters: The past perfect marks this intention as preceding the job offer and move.
Suggested Rewrites
- Hope you're doing well. I hope you're doing well.
- taken a job accepted a new job
- one of the prestigious hospitals a prestigious hospital
- Ottowa Ottawa
- for a long for a long time
- look after the visiting patients examine patients
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter's strongest feature is its warm, convincing relationship with the reader: it fully explains the career move, describes the new medical role, and adds relevant personal news about Ottawa. The main presentation weakness is that all ideas are compressed into one continuous paragraph, while a few awkward phrases slightly reduce polish. Prioritise clear paragraph breaks for each purpose, then refine the small collocation and tense errors.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly fulfils all three requirements with relevant detail and maintains an engaging, appropriately informal relationship with the friend.
Keep the three required purposes equally easy to locate and trim repeated expressions of enthusiasm to make the response more concise.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from personal contact to the job change, new role and life in Ottawa, but the complete absence of paragraph breaks weakens organisation.
Create separate paragraphs for the reason for changing jobs, the new responsibilities and the additional personal news and invitation.
Lexical Resource
A broad and generally precise range conveys work, medicine and personal news naturally, with only occasional awkward collocations or spelling slips.
Replace phrases such as 'for a long' and 'suggest treatment of illnesses' with 'for a long time' and 'recommend treatment for illnesses', and spell Ottawa consistently.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide variety of simple and complex structures is used with good control, although a few tense, preposition and phrasing errors remain.
Review isolated forms such as 'Ottawa holds an annual Tulip Festival' and 'I hope you can visit' for more accurate tense and modality.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently changed your job and started working for a new company. Write a letter to an English-speaking friend. In your letter:
- explain why you have changed your previous job
- describe your new job
- tell him/her your other news
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.