You recently went on a trip with a friend and you both took some photographs. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - ask your friend to send you one of the photographs - explain why you need that particular photograph and tell your friend - what happened to your copy of it
Sample Response
Dear Rumi, Hope you are doing well. As I mentioned beforeJust to let you know again, I think my recent tripI think that my recent trip to Turkey with you was one of the best tripsones I have ever had. In fact, I would never have knownwould have never known that Turkey, and especially Istanbulespecially the city of Istanbul, was such a beautiful place had I not gonevisited there with you. DeleteAnyway, I am writing this letter to request a copy of one of the photographsa copy of the photographs that we took atin the Hagia Sophia Museum. For me, this particular pictureThis particular picture to me was one of my favouritesone of the best and most favourite since I looked really livelylive and happy in that picture, unlikein that picture unlike in many other pictures in which I looked either tired or serious. But, unfortunately, when I was looking at this picture and talking about my experience on our recent trip to Turkey to one of my cousins over a cup of coffee, I accidentally spilt my coffee on it. As a resultNot to mention, the picture got damaged after that accident. So, I would really appreciate it if you could mail me a copy of that picture because you have a copy of that picture with you also. Take care and write to me sometimesometimes. Warm wishes, Stephen
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter covers every requested point with a friendly tone, clearly identifying the Hagia Sophia photograph, explaining its personal value, and describing the coffee damage. Its main limitation is repetitive and occasionally unnatural wording, especially repeated uses of “picture” and the phrase “really live”; prioritise concise paragraphing, varied reference words, and natural expressions such as “looked lively and happy.”
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are fully developed, and the informal tone suits a letter to a friend.
Make the request even more precise by specifying whether a printed copy or digital file would be most useful.
Coherence and Cohesion
The account progresses logically from the trip memory to the photograph, its importance, the accident, and the request, but it lacks paragraph breaks.
Divide the letter into short paragraphs for the shared trip, the photograph’s value, and the request after explaining the damage.
Lexical Resource
There is enough range to describe the trip and accident clearly, but repeated wording and choices such as “really live” and “most favourite” reduce naturalness.
Use “looked lively,” avoid redundant superlatives, and replace repeated instances of “picture” with suitable references such as “photograph” or “copy.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response demonstrates several well-controlled complex structures, including inversion, while minor punctuation and phrasing errors do not impede meaning.
Tighten the long sentence about spilling coffee and avoid unnecessary commas after opening conjunctions such as “But.”
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently went on a trip with a friend and you both took some photographs. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- ask your friend to send you one of the photographs
- explain why you need that particular photograph and tell your friend
- what happened to your copy of it
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.