Last year you attended a presentation skill course at the Sydney College of Australia. Your new employer has asked you to provide copies of your reports and assignments as quickly as possible. Write a letter to the director of the school. In your letter: - explain who you are and why you are writing - request these documents - ask whether you need to pay any fee for that
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am Julia Scarlet from the United Kingdom. I am writing to you to requests copies of my reports and assignment that I submitted to the course coordinator to complete a presentation skill course I undertook at the Sydney College of Australia. I am hoping you would arrange to send me those copies as I need them urgently. I completed the course on 18th March 2019 under the supervision of Mr Alfred and had my copy of reports, certificate and assignment. I submitted those to my previous employer 'LVL Group' and recently took a job with another company. The new company has asked me to forward these papers and this is why I need these documents urgently. I had email correspondences with Mr Alfred, my course coordinator, and he suggested that I should contact you for those papers. I would request you to forward these documents to my address as soon as possible. Kindly inform me if there is any charge for the second copy of these documents. If there is any, I would be ready to pay for that. I would really appreciate your cooperation and kind response. Yours faithfully, Julia Scarlet
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use base verb Original: to requests Suggested revision: to request Why it matters: The infinitive marker "to" must be followed by the base verb.
- 2. Use plural documents Original: reports and assignment Suggested revision: reports and assignments Why it matters: The request in the task concerns copies of multiple reports and assignments.
- 3. Use direct request Original: I am hoping Suggested revision: I hope Why it matters: The simple present is more direct and concise in this formal request.
- 4. Format the date Original: on 18th March 2019 Suggested revision: on 18 March 2019 Why it matters: This is the conventional formal British date format without an ordinal ending.
- 5. Fix number agreement Original: my copy of reports Suggested revision: copies of my reports Why it matters: Multiple reports require the plural noun "copies."
- 6. Clarify the reference Original: I submitted those Suggested revision: I submitted these documents Why it matters: Naming the documents avoids an unclear demonstrative reference.
- 7. Remove unnecessary quotes Original: 'LVL Group' Suggested revision: LVL Group Why it matters: A company name does not need quotation marks in this sentence.
- 8. Use present perfect Original: recently took a job Suggested revision: have recently taken a job Why it matters: The present perfect links the recent job change to the current request.
- 9. Use uncountable noun Original: email correspondences Suggested revision: email correspondence Why it matters: "Correspondence" is normally uncountable when referring to exchanged messages collectively.
- 10. Clarify the purpose Original: for those papers Suggested revision: to request the documents Why it matters: This phrase states the purpose of contacting the director precisely.
- 11. Use natural delivery verb Original: forward these documents to my address Suggested revision: send these documents to my address Why it matters: "Send" is the natural verb for delivering replacement copies to a postal address.
- 12. Request plural copies Original: the second copy Suggested revision: replacement copies Why it matters: Several documents are requested, so a singular second copy is inaccurate.
Suggested Rewrites
- to requests to request
- reports and assignment reports and assignments
- I am hoping I hope
- on 18th March 2019 on 18 March 2019
- my copy of reports copies of my reports
- I submitted those I submitted these documents
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully achieves its request: it identifies the writer and course, explains why the records are urgent, asks for the documents, and checks the fee in an appropriately formal tone. The information is easy to follow, but repetition, an unbroken paragraph, and several faulty forms reduce polish; prioritise paragraphing the background, request and payment query, then correct phrases such as to requests, copies of my reports and assignments, and email correspondence.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
All three requirements are fully developed with relevant identifying details, a clear urgent reason, a direct document request and an explicit fee enquiry.
Clarify whether the previous employer holds the originals or copies so that the requested replacement documents are entirely unambiguous.
Coherence and Cohesion
The explanation progresses logically from identification to the employment context, request and fee question, but repetition and absent paragraphing weaken the structure.
Create distinct paragraphs for course details, the reason for urgency, the document request and the payment enquiry.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficiently varied and formal for the request, though repeated references to documents and several unnatural forms limit precision.
Use concise terms such as copies, records and replacements, and correct email correspondences to email correspondence.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses a good range of complex structures with generally clear control, despite several verb-form, number and noun-phrase errors.
Proofread forms such as writing to request, reports and assignments, copies of the reports, and willing to pay the fee.
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