You celebrated your birthday with some friends last week in a restaurant. It was a great success and you and your friends enjoyed the evening very much. Write a letter to the restaurant. In your letter: - thank the restaurant for the successful evening - mention the food, service and atmosphere - suggest improvements that could make things better
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to thank you for your amazing service last Tuesday evening when I visited your restaurant with some of my friends to celebrate my 24th birthday. The interior was elegant and the tranquillity of the restaurant was mind-boggling. We enjoyed our dinner to the fullest and I must commend the staff members for their cordial attitude. My friends did not forget to appreciate the great service from your employees. Although they were serving a large number of guests, they were always available, smiling and made us feel welcome and comfortable. Last but not least, the atmosphere in the restaurant was really pleasant and we especially enjoyed the classical music you had in your playlist. Finally, as a suggestion, I think it would be great if you have more variety in your beverage and dessert menu. Again, thank you for this nice experience. We are definitely coming back. Yours sincerely, Youssef Lamaei
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use suitable description Original: mind-boggling Suggested revision: remarkable Why it matters: Mind-boggling is too extreme and informal for describing a restaurant's tranquillity.
- 2. State praise directly Original: did not forget to appreciate Suggested revision: also appreciated Why it matters: This expresses the friends' positive response more directly.
- 3. Use natural service phrase Original: service from your employees Suggested revision: service provided by your staff Why it matters: This is the natural collocation for restaurant service.
- 4. Describe played music Original: you had in your playlist Suggested revision: you played Why it matters: The restaurant played the music; the playlist itself is not relevant.
- 5. Use conditional form Original: if you have more variety Suggested revision: if you offered a wider variety Why it matters: The second conditional requires a past-form verb after if.
- 6. Fix menu phrase Original: in your beverage and dessert menu Suggested revision: on your beverage and dessert menus Why it matters: Items appear on menus, and the two categories take a plural noun here.
- 7. Strengthen formal thanks Original: nice Suggested revision: wonderful Why it matters: Wonderful conveys the stated appreciation more precisely in this thank-you letter.
- 8. Match generic salutation Original: sincerely Suggested revision: faithfully Why it matters: A letter beginning Dear Sir or Madam conventionally closes with Yours faithfully.
- 9. Sentence rewrite Original: Although they were serving a large number of guests, they were always available, smiling and made us feel welcome and comfortable. Suggested revision: Although they were serving a large number of guests, they were always available and smiling, and they made us feel welcome and comfortable. Why it matters: The rewrite restores parallel structure among the staff's actions.
- 10. Describe the food Suggested revision: Add one specific comment about the food's taste, quality, or presentation. Why it matters: The prompt explicitly requires the food to be mentioned, but the letter only says that dinner was enjoyed.
Suggested Rewrites
- mind-boggling remarkable
- did not forget to appreciate also appreciated
- service from your employees service provided by your staff
- you had in your playlist you played
- if you have more variety if you offered a wider variety
- in your beverage and dessert menu on your beverage and dessert menus
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response's strongest feature is its clear, appropriately formal gratitude, with specific praise for the attentive staff, elegant setting, and music, followed by a practical menu suggestion. Its main limitation is that the food itself receives almost no description despite being an explicit prompt point, and a few expressions are overstated or grammatically uneven. The priority is to add one concrete food detail while keeping the polished, concise tone.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is fully clear and all three bullet points are addressed, although discussion of the food is much less developed than the service and atmosphere.
Mention a specific dish or quality of the meal before explaining how broader beverage and dessert choices would improve the experience.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter has clear progression from thanks through praise to the improvement request and conclusion, despite being presented as one continuous paragraph.
Use short paragraphs for the occasion, food and service, atmosphere, and suggestion so each communicative point is immediately visible.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and precise overall, with effective choices such as "elegant," "tranquillity," and "cordial," though "mind-boggling" is excessive for the context.
Keep the strong formal range while choosing measured praise such as "impressive" and the natural phrase "more variety on the menu."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are handled accurately in most cases, with only occasional faults in parallel structure and conditional form.
Revise "were always available, smiling and made" for parallelism and use "it would be great if you offered" in the suggestion.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You celebrated your birthday with some friends last week in a restaurant. It was a great success and you and your friends enjoyed the evening very much. Write a letter to the restaurant. In your letter:
- thank the restaurant for the successful evening
- mention the food, service and atmosphere
- suggest improvements that could make things better
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.