You borrowed an important textbook from a classmate last term. You now realise your classmate has returned home overseas and you still have the book. Write a letter to him/her. In your letter: - Apologise fro the mistake - Find out how important the book is to him/her - Say what you will do
Sample Response
Dear Yuki,
I hope you had a safe journey back to Japan, and that your family are all well.
I am writing to say that I’m sorry for not returning the book to younot giving you back the book ‘English Grammar in Use’, which‘English Grammar in Use’ which I borrowed from you last term. You lent it to me just before the exams to help me prepare for them, and yesterday I found it under my bed.
Please let me know straight away if you need this book for your studies right now, or whether you can manage without it.
If you really need it, I can post it tofor you by airmail immediately. If not, do you mind if I send it by ordinary mail as it is quite heavyas it quite heavy? Or, if you prefer, I can send someseme money insteadinsead. Please let me know what you want me to do.
I hope you enjoy the holiday.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter handles the situation naturally: the apology is specific, the importance of the book is checked directly, and several practical remedies are offered in a friendly, appropriate tone. The response is only marginally under length, while its main weakness is a small cluster of spelling and grammatical slips near the end. Careful proofreading and a conventional closing would make it more polished.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully and directly addressed with specific, useful detail in a consistently suitable personal tone.
Add a brief friendly sign-off and, if possible, a few words beyond the minimum length for a fully finished letter.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is logically sequenced, with each paragraph serving a clear communicative function and links used naturally.
Connect the final goodwill sentence more explicitly to the preceding request so the ending feels less abrupt.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is precise and flexible for the situation, although the misspellings ‘seme’ and ‘insead’ reduce accuracy.
Proofread the final paragraph carefully to eliminate spelling slips in otherwise well-chosen language.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses varied sentence structures with good control, despite a few local errors that do not impede meaning.
Correct small omissions such as the missing verb in ‘as it quite heavy’ and check final sentences for completeness.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You borrowed an important textbook from a classmate last term. You now realise your classmate has returned home overseas and you still have the book. Write a letter to him/her. In your letter:
- Apologise fro the mistake
- Find out how important the book is to him/her
- Say what you will do
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.