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 Suzana, Hope you are doing well, I am doing fine too. As you know i am moving abroad next month and there are lot of things at home which i do not want to take along with me. Television is one such item which i am planning to sale at cheaper & reasonable price. It is 40 inch sony TV with LED screen bought in year 2016, have all the latest features such USB port & internet connectivity, you can watch movies, music and can do lot of things. I’m leaving the country next month, which is only 4 weeks away, so let me know if you want to see it, it would be best to come on 20th or 21st. That will give me time to sell it elsewhere if you are not interested. Ok, I look forward to seeing you. Let me know if you can’t make it. All the best, Anshu
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Capitalise the pronoun Original: i Suggested revision: I Why it matters: The first-person pronoun must be capitalised.
- 2. Add the article Original: are lot of things Suggested revision: are a lot of things Why it matters: The quantity expression is 'a lot of'.
- 3. Capitalise the pronoun Original: i Suggested revision: I Why it matters: The first-person pronoun must be capitalised.
- 4. Add definite article Original: Television is one such item Suggested revision: The television is one such item Why it matters: The specific television already introduced by the task requires the definite article.
- 5. Capitalise the pronoun Original: i Suggested revision: I Why it matters: The first-person pronoun must be capitalised.
- 6. Use the verb Original: sale Suggested revision: sell Why it matters: 'Sell' is the verb, while 'sale' is a noun.
- 7. Use natural price phrase Original: at cheaper & reasonable price Suggested revision: at a low, reasonable price Why it matters: The revision supplies the article, removes the unsupported comparison and avoids an ampersand in prose.
- 8. Hyphenate the modifier Original: 40 inch Suggested revision: 40-inch Why it matters: A compound measurement before a noun should be hyphenated.
- 9. Capitalise the brand Original: sony Suggested revision: Sony Why it matters: The brand name is a proper noun and requires a capital letter.
- 10. Add an article Original: with LED screen Suggested revision: with an LED screen Why it matters: A singular countable noun phrase needs an article.
- 11. Remove unnecessary noun Original: in year 2016 Suggested revision: in 2016 Why it matters: Years are normally introduced directly with 'in'.
- 12. Restore subject agreement Original: , have all the latest features Suggested revision: , and has all the latest features Why it matters: The coordinated description needs 'has' to agree with the singular television.
Suggested Rewrites
- i I
- are lot of things are a lot of things
- i I
- Television is one such item The television is one such item
- i I
- sale sell
Why this response received Band 6.0
The letter fully addresses the purpose, describes the television, explains the sale, and proposes suitable viewing dates in a friendly tone. Its main limitation is frequent grammatical and punctuation error, especially missing articles, incorrect word forms, and long comma-linked clauses, while the single-block presentation weakens organisation. Prioritise dividing the letter into clear paragraphs and revising each sentence for complete clause structure and accurate everyday phrasing.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are covered with relevant detail, and the friendly tone suits a letter to a friend.
Make the television description more practically useful by stating its condition and replacing the vague price description with a specific offer.
Coherence and Cohesion
The content follows a clear sequence from the reason for selling to the description and viewing arrangements, but one long paragraph and several run-on sentences weaken readability.
Organise the letter into short purpose, description, and arrangement paragraphs, with one complete idea at the centre of each sentence.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficient for the situation and includes relevant product features, though incorrect word choices and collocations reduce precision.
Replace inaccurate phrases with natural forms such as sell, a reasonable price, features such as, and listen to music.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning remains clear and some complex forms are attempted, but errors with articles, capitalisation, agreement, sentence boundaries, and noun modifiers occur frequently.
Revise comma-linked clauses into separate sentences and check articles, subjects, verb forms, and capital letters systematically.
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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.