You are going away travelling for the summer. A friend is going to look after your house while you are away. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter - say where you are going - describe your house - explain some of the things your friend must do to look after your house
Sample Response
Dear Sarah,
Thank you very much for looking after my house while I am awayduring my holidays.
My family and I are going to fly to Brownsville on December 26. As you know, we used to live thereAs you know we lived there for several years.
I will walk you through my house hoping that when you arrive you find it familiar.
Opening the door,Opening the door you’ll see a small living room. To the right of the living roomOn the right side of the living room areis a half bath, the laundry room and a closet.
Walking straight ahead from the entrance is the diningdinning room with the kitchen just beyond itfollowed by the kitchen. To the left of the kitchenLeft to the kitchen is the family room. Across from the dining roomAcross the dining room are the stairs. On the second floor we have three bedrooms and two bathroomsbaths.
The garden is right behind the kitchen. Please water the grass twice a week. Make sure that you lock the back door before leavingthe back door remains locked before you leave. The dinning room window is kind of loose, please check it remains closed. Sometimes when it is verytoo windy it opens a little bit. Turn the lights on and off randomlyaleatory to make it appear that someone is thereto pretend someone is there. If you prefer staying at my house to goingprefer to stay at my house than going back and forth, you are more than welcome. It is a very comfortable home.
Thank you very much for your help.
Best wishes, [Your name]Best wishes
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter’s strongest feature is its clear, practical coverage of the house layout and the actions the friend should take, supported by an appropriately warm tone. Its main limitation is imprecise language and several awkward constructions, alongside the mismatch between summer travel and a December departure. The highest priority is to proofread vocabulary and comparative structures so the otherwise clear message sounds consistently natural.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are addressed with useful detail, and the friendly register is generally suitable.
Align the stated travel date with the summer scenario and add a slightly fuller explanation of the trip to remove the small content inconsistency.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from the travel plan through the house description to the care instructions, with clear paragraphing.
Combine some very short paragraphs and use smoother links between the room tour and the household instructions.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a useful range of vocabulary for rooms, household features, and security, though several word choices and spellings are inaccurate.
Replace inaccurate forms such as “dinning” and “aleatory” with precise, natural alternatives and check collocations before finalising the letter.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of simple and complex structures communicates the message clearly, despite recurring errors in prepositions, punctuation, and comparison patterns.
Proofread structures such as “left of the kitchen” and “prefer staying to going back and forth,” and separate comma-spliced clauses.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are going away travelling for the summer. A friend is going to look after your house while you are away. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter
- say where you are going
- describe your house
- explain some of the things your friend must do to look after your house
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.