You forget your bag in the gym and the gym management announced that it will be closed for a week for some renovation work. You need your bag as it has important things in it. Write a letter to the manager of the gym. In your letter: - introduce yourself and describe your position - give them a description of your bag - tell them what you want them to do
Sample Response
Dear Mr Peter, Three days ago I went to your Gold Body Gym and left behind the bag I had placedforgot the bag that I placed in lockercupboard 547. I was ill for the followinglast two days and when I went to the gym yesterday I was informednotified that the gym would be closed for a week. I need my bag urgently and I hope you will allow meI am hoping you will allow me to fetch my bag from the gym. I have been a member of your gymgymnasium since 2022 and my membership number is 4580. The assigned lockerallocated cabinet that I use regularly is 547. I placed my bag in that lockercloset and left it behind when I hurried homeforgot it as I hurried to return home on 22nd March 2025. Because I was illDue to my sickness, I was absent for the next two days and could not retrieve my bag. In relation to the specifics of the bag, it is a brown office bagbrown colour office bag that has my laptop, a few official documents, my credit card and a notebook in it. The bag has three zippers and a flexible handle. Now that I have heardNow that I heard that your gym would be closed for at least a week for renovation work, I am a bit worried. ThereforeAs a solution, and because I really need the bag, I am hoping that you would permit me to collect it from the gym sometime tomorrow. Thank you for giving the matter your attention and I hope to hear from youhear your reply soon. Yours sincerely, Alex Carey
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully explains the writer's membership status, identifies the bag in considerable detail, and makes the requested action unmistakably clear in an appropriately polite register. Its main limitation is that the response is presented as one long block and repeats some information about the locker and closure. The highest-priority improvement is to group related details into clear paragraphs and remove repetition for a more efficient formal letter.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three required points are fully addressed with specific details, and the request to retrieve the bag is clear and appropriately polite.
Add a practical contact detail or proposed collection arrangement to make the requested action easier for the manager to fulfil.
Coherence and Cohesion
The sequence from circumstances to identification, bag description, and request is logical, but the single-block format and repetition weaken cohesion.
Use separate paragraphs for the background, the bag description, and the collection request, removing repeated details about locker 547.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a good range of formal and descriptive vocabulary, although a few combinations sound unnatural.
Prefer idiomatic expressions such as 'a brown office bag' and 'because I was unwell' for greater lexical precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Most complex sentences are accurate and meaning remains clear, with only occasional tense and structural lapses.
Keep the narrative time frame consistent, particularly by replacing 'Now that I heard' with an appropriate present-perfect form.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You forget your bag in the gym and the gym management announced that it will be closed for a week for some renovation work. You need your bag as it has important things in it. Write a letter to the manager of the gym. In your letter:
- introduce yourself and describe your position
- give them a description of your bag
- tell them what you want them to do
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.