You want to sell your television. You think a friend of yours might like to buy it from you. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter explain: - why you are selling the television - describe the television - suggest a date - when your friend can come and see it
Sample Response
Dear Rabbi, Hope you are doing well. I have recently got a job offer in New York and I am excited about it. I am planning to leave next month and would like to meet you sometime before my departure. I have decided not to ship my furniture to my destination. Instead, I want to sell them off. I think you might be interested to purchase my smart TV. The TV I own is an ultra-slim Samsung LED television and I purchased it around 6 months ago. It still has a warranty for 1 and a half years. I brought it from a branded Samsung showroom and it is a 43 inch Android TV. The outstanding features of this TV are 3-Dimensional view (3D), smart internet connection, latest Android OS, 256 GB internal memory, 10 years picture panel warranty and voice activation. I believe you would be interested to have this TV, however, I advise you to have a clear demonstration of the functional and operational procedures of it. you can come to check it out next weekend, Saturday, 28th March. We can also negotiate the price at the same time. Kindly reply to me with your thoughts on buying this television. Hope to hear from you soon. Warm wishes, Ramesh Roy
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Separate the greeting Original: Dear Rabbi, Hope Suggested revision: Dear Rabbi, Hope Why it matters: The salutation should be separated from the opening sentence.
- 2. Fix pronoun agreement Original: sell them off Suggested revision: sell it Why it matters: Furniture is an uncountable singular noun and takes the pronoun it.
- 3. Fix verb pattern Original: interested to purchase Suggested revision: interested in purchasing Why it matters: Interested is followed by in and a gerund.
- 4. Clarify warranty remaining Original: warranty for 1 and a half years Suggested revision: further 18 months of warranty Why it matters: This phrasing clearly states how much warranty coverage remains.
- 5. Use bought Original: brought Suggested revision: bought Why it matters: Bought means purchased, whereas brought means carried to a place.
- 6. Use natural retail term Original: a branded Samsung showroom Suggested revision: an authorized Samsung showroom Why it matters: Authorized showroom is the natural expression for an official brand retailer.
- 7. Hyphenate the modifier Original: 43 inch Suggested revision: 43-inch Why it matters: A compound measurement before a noun takes a hyphen and singular unit.
- 8. Use concise feature name Original: 3-Dimensional view (3D) Suggested revision: 3D viewing Why it matters: 3D viewing is the concise and natural name for this feature.
- 9. Add the article Original: latest Android OS Suggested revision: the latest Android OS Why it matters: The superlative latest requires the definite article.
- 10. Fix compound modifiers Original: 10 years picture panel warranty Suggested revision: a 10-year picture-panel warranty Why it matters: Compound modifiers before warranty require singular year and hyphens.
- 11. Fix verb pattern Original: interested to have Suggested revision: interested in buying Why it matters: Interested is followed by in and a gerund.
- 12. End the sentence Original: TV, however, Suggested revision: TV. However, Why it matters: However cannot join two independent clauses with commas alone.
Suggested Rewrites
- Dear Rabbi, Hope Dear Rabbi, Hope
- sell them off sell it
- interested to purchase interested in purchasing
- warranty for 1 and a half years further 18 months of warranty
- brought bought
- a branded Samsung showroom an authorized Samsung showroom
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response’s strongest feature is its clear communicative purpose and detailed television description, with the reason for selling and a viewing date both covered in a friendly letter. Its main limitation is dense presentation and occasionally awkward or overformal wording, while the viewing arrangement gives no time of day. Prioritise paragraphing the letter by purpose and stating a specific viewing time in natural language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter explains the move, describes the television extensively and proposes Saturday 28 March, with a generally suitable friendly tone, but the viewing time remains unspecified.
Add a specific time or time window for the visit and keep the product description focused on the most relevant selling points.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas follow a logical sequence from the move to the television, viewing and reply, but the entire letter is one dense paragraph and the long feature list interrupts flow.
Use short paragraphs for the reason for selling, the television description and the viewing arrangements.
Lexical Resource
The response shows adequate range for describing the television and arrangements, but collocations such as “interested to purchase,” “branded showroom” and “procedures of it” are unnatural.
Use natural phrases such as “interested in buying,” “authorised showroom,” and “show you how it works.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A useful range of structures is mostly controlled, though pronoun reference, comma splices, missing articles, hyphenation and the lowercase “you” cause recurring lapses.
Correct “furniture” to a singular reference, split the comma splice before “however,” and write forms such as “43-inch TV” and “You can.”
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You want to sell your television. You think a friend of yours might like to buy it from you. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter explain:
- why you are selling the television
- describe the television
- suggest a date
- when your friend can come and see it
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.