You have recently been to stay with an old friend for a few days. You haven't seen each other for a long time and was happy to meet him/her. Now write a letter to this friend. In your letter: - say how you felt about the visit refer to something enjoyable that you did while staying with him/her - invite your friend to visit you
Sample Response
Dear Karan, It was indeed a great pleasure to visit you. I felt delighted to see youquite excited to meet you after several years and I will never forget the moments we have spent together after such a long time; it was just like the old daysafter a long; it was just like the old days! I am writing to thank you and invite you to my place. Your hospitalityThe way you treated me during my visit was really appreciatedis really appreciable - I can never be a great host like you. I cherished every single day of my holidayholidays. When we went to the 'Wonderland', I was simply mesmerised and those wereare unforgettable moments. We enjoyed everything there, and it felt as if we were back in our school daysWe enjoyed everything there as if we were in our school days. I still remember how afraid of water you were as a teenager. I guess you still are!I still remember the way you were afraid of water when you were a teenager, I guess you still are! I would be delighted if you could comeIt would be a great pleasure to invite you to my home for my birthday weekend next monthfor my birthday next month. We will go to the nearby hill station and have great fun there. I hope you can be with meI will expect you to be with me at that time. Please try to make it. Warm wishes, Nishath
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter warmly conveys appreciation, recalls the enjoyable Wonderland visit, and extends a clear birthday invitation, so its friendly purpose is achieved. The main limitation is that everything appears in one dense paragraph, with loosely joined ideas and several unnatural expressions or tense choices. Prioritise separating feelings, shared memories, and the invitation into clear paragraphs, then proofread collocations, time references, and sentence boundaries.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter thanks the friend, says the visit was enjoyable, refers to Wonderland, and invites the friend for a birthday visit. The task is achieved, though the first bullet combines feelings and an enjoyable activity, so the response could separate those points more clearly.
Make one clear paragraph about how you felt, one about the enjoyable activity, and one about the invitation details.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message has a friendly progression, but it is written as a single dense paragraph and several ideas are joined loosely.
Add paragraphing and use clearer transitions from thanks, to memory, to invitation.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is warm and varied, but some phrases are unnatural, such as 'after a long' and 'really appreciable'.
Use natural informal collocations like 'after such a long time', 'I really appreciated', and 'I had a wonderful time'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response is generally understandable, but there are several errors in tense, prepositions, and sentence connection.
Check time phrases, verb tense after past events, and punctuation between independent clauses.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently been to stay with an old friend for a few days. You haven't seen each other for a long time and was happy to meet him/her. Now write a letter to this friend. In your letter:
- say how you felt about the visit refer to something enjoyable that you did while staying with him/her
- invite your friend to visit you
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.