Your parents will celebrate their 50th anniversary next month. You are planning a big celebration and have a friend, Julia, who is a professional event planner. Write to Julia. In your letter: - explain why the occasion is special - ask for her assistance - set up a time to meet and discuss your plans
Sample Response
Dear Julia, Hope you are doing excellent. I am writing this letter because I need some advice from a professional event planner like you. And I need it because my parents are going to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary soon, and I just don’t have a clue about how to make this occasion a memorable one. This 50th anniversaryBy the way, this 50th anniversary is going to be a special occasion for my parents because they've been through a lot of ups and downs in their 50 years of married life, and yet their love for each other seems to be as fresh and deep as the day when they got married. Of course, I have plansI've plans to buy them some thoughtfulperfect gifts and create a slideshow full of their memories, but I'm not too sure if that’s what will be suitable forgo with the appeal of such a grand occasion. Besides, I'm still undecided about whereundecided where to organise the event, how to decorate the venue and whom to invite. So, would you be able to meet meplease meet me the day after tomorrow at around 5:30 pm at your office so that I can discuss my plans with you while also getting some of your expert adviceborrowing some of your expert ideas to turn this grand event into a successa successful one. Best wishes, Linda
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter fully addresses the occasion, requested help, and proposed meeting, with warm detail that makes the purpose convincing and personal. Its main limitation is expression: several awkward collocations and grammatical slips, together with heavy reliance on sentence-opening linkers, reduce polish. Prioritise more natural phrasing and divide the content into clear paragraphs so the request and meeting arrangement are easier to follow.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are fully developed, and the friendly tone suits the relationship.
Make the proposed meeting more considerate by checking whether the time is convenient for Julia.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from the significance of the anniversary to planning needs and the meeting request, although the single-block presentation and prominent linkers feel mechanical.
Use separate paragraphs for the occasion, requested assistance, and meeting details, with fewer sentence-opening connectors.
Lexical Resource
A good range of relevant vocabulary conveys affection and event-planning needs, but phrases such as "doing excellent" and "go with the appeal" are unnatural.
Choose idiomatic collocations, such as "doing well" and "suit such a grand occasion," to improve precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied complex structures are generally controlled, with only occasional non-impeding errors such as "I've plans."
Review article and verb-form choices in shorter clauses while preserving the effective range of complex sentences.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your parents will celebrate their 50th anniversary next month. You are planning a big celebration and have a friend, Julia, who is a professional event planner. Write to Julia. In your letter:
- explain why the occasion is special
- ask for her assistance
- set up a time to meet and discuss your plans
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.