Mrs Barrett, an English-speaking woman who lives in your town, has advertised for someone to help her in her home for a few hours a day next summer. Write a letter to Mrs Barrett. In your letter: - suggest how you could help her in her home - say why you would like to do this work - explain when you will and will not be available
Sample Response
Dear Mrs Barrett,
I am Lia Lima, a university student and a local in the neighbourhood, writing to you to show my interest in helping you with your household work next summer.
I can help you with cleaning the kitchen, cooking a few items, taking the garbage outside and doing groceries. I can also iron your clothes, clean your floor with a vacuum cleaner and call the pharmacy to refill the medicine.
I will have a long holiday this summer, and I will take a part-time computer course. It means that I will have a few hours each day to spare to work at your home while also earning some money to support the expenses of the part-time computer course that I am planning to intake.
I will be available between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm each day except Sunday. I would also be busy on Tuesdays as I visit my mother and take a dance class every Tuesday.
I am looking forward to assisting you with your work this summer and getting to know you better. For your convenience, I am attaching my details with this letter.
Yours faithfully,
Lia Lima
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use natural resident phrase Original: a local in the neighbourhood Suggested revision: a resident of the neighbourhood Why it matters: Resident of the neighbourhood is the natural way to describe where the writer lives.
- 2. Use formal interest phrase Original: show Suggested revision: express Why it matters: Express my interest is the standard collocation in an application letter.
- 3. Name meals naturally Original: cooking a few items Suggested revision: preparing a few meals Why it matters: Preparing meals is a natural description of household cooking assistance.
- 4. Use natural chore phrase Original: taking the garbage outside Suggested revision: taking out the rubbish Why it matters: Taking out the rubbish is the standard household expression in British English.
- 5. Correct shopping collocation Original: doing groceries Suggested revision: doing the grocery shopping Why it matters: Do the grocery shopping is the natural collocation for this household task.
- 6. Use concise chore verb Original: clean your floor with a vacuum cleaner Suggested revision: vacuum your floors Why it matters: Vacuum directly expresses cleaning floors with a vacuum cleaner.
- 7. Correct pharmacy phrase Original: refill the medicine Suggested revision: refill your prescription Why it matters: Pharmacies refill prescriptions rather than medicine itself.
- 8. Use cost collocation Original: support the expenses of Suggested revision: cover the cost of Why it matters: Cover the cost of is the natural expression for paying course expenses.
- 9. Correct course verb Original: intake Suggested revision: take Why it matters: A student takes a course; intake is not used as a verb in this context.
- 10. Introduce yourself naturally Original: I am Lia Lima Suggested revision: My name is Lia Lima Why it matters: My name is is a more natural way to introduce yourself in this formal letter.
- 11. Use precise task wording Original: work Suggested revision: tasks Why it matters: Household tasks is a more precise phrase for the practical help listed later.
- 12. Use formal contact verb Original: call Suggested revision: contact Why it matters: Contact is slightly more formal and suits the register of an application letter.
Suggested Rewrites
- a local in the neighbourhood a resident of the neighbourhood
- show express
- cooking a few items preparing a few meals
- taking the garbage outside taking out the rubbish
- doing groceries doing the grocery shopping
- clean your floor with a vacuum cleaner vacuum your floors
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter is clearly structured and gives practical detail about household tasks, motivation, and working hours in a polite, appropriate tone. Its main weakness is ambiguity in availability because Tuesday is excluded only after stating availability every day except Sunday, while several collocations are unnatural. The highest priority is to provide one unambiguous weekly schedule and refine the descriptions of chores and the computer course.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose and all bullet points are well developed, but the stated daily availability conflicts with the later Tuesday restriction.
State directly that you are available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Coherence and Cohesion
Focused paragraphs correspond closely to the requested points and create clear, natural progression.
Combine the two availability statements into one precise paragraph to remove the only local inconsistency.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary covers household work and scheduling adequately, though several phrases are unnatural or imprecise.
Use do the grocery shopping, vacuum the floors, collect prescriptions, cover course costs, and take a course.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A useful range of structures communicates clearly, but article, relative-clause, and coordination errors recur.
Simplify long sentences and ensure parallel forms when listing both availability and reasons for working.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Mrs Barrett, an English-speaking woman who lives in your town, has advertised for someone to help her in her home for a few hours a day next summer. Write a letter to Mrs Barrett. In your letter:
- suggest how you could help her in her home
- say why you would like to do this work
- explain when you will and will not be available
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.