You have just returned home after living with a family in an English-speaking country for six months. You left a small bag of personal possessions in your room. Write to the family. In your letter: - describe the things you left behind - ask the family to send the items to you - offer to cover the cost
Sample Response
Dear Mrs Beth, I arrived home safely last Tuesdayhave safely reached home last Tuesday. I want to thank you for the warm hospitality and kindness that you and your family have shown merendered to me. LivingIt felt just like home living with all of you. As you are already aware,As you are already aware that I was in a hurryracing against time and rushing to catch my flight, I left a bag with my laptop, charger and some books in my room. I did not realize it at that time and it only occurred to me halfway through the flight. These books and the laptop are extremelyutterly important for my research. Besides, all of my workworks are saved on my laptop. I would greatly appreciate itI will highly appreciate it if you can take the troublego through the trouble of sending me the bag with its contents by courierthrough a courier. Kindly use the FedEx service as it is quickas they are quick and reliable in my country. The bag weighs approximatelyThe approximate weight of the bag will be around five kilograms, and I would like to cover the courier costbear the cost of the courier. Please provide me with your bank details so that I can depositas I will deposit the amount into your account in advance. I will be very grateful to you for your helpthis act of kindness. Thank you once again. Yours sincerelySincerely, Faisal Ahmed
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully explains what was left, why the items matter, how they should be sent, and how the writer will pay, while retaining a grateful and respectful tone. Its main limitation is recurring awkward collocation and grammar, including the opening tense and the request construction. Prioritise natural personal-letter phrasing and accurate tense control, then organise thanks, item details, and delivery arrangements into short paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully developed with precise item details, a clear courier request, and a practical offer to transfer the delivery cost.
Add the recipient's delivery deadline or confirm the writer's postal address to make the arrangement completely actionable.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter follows a clear sequence from thanks to the forgotten items, their importance, and the delivery and payment plan, though paragraphing is limited.
Separate the appreciation, description of the bag, and courier arrangements into three short body paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the situation, but expressions such as "rendered to me," "all of my works," and "go through the trouble" are awkward.
Prefer natural phrases such as "shown me," "all my work," and "take the trouble to send the bag."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of sentence types communicates the message clearly, while tense choice, clause structure, and pronoun agreement contain recurring errors.
Use forms such as "I arrived home safely last Tuesday," "As you know," and "FedEx is quick and reliable."
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have just returned home after living with a family in an English-speaking country for six months. You left a small bag of personal possessions in your room. Write to the family. In your letter:
- describe the things you left behind
- ask the family to send the items to you
- offer to cover the cost
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.