After being involved in an accident, you were looked after by a person you did not know before. Write a special thank you letter to express your gratitude. In your letter: introduce yourself and let him/her know why you are writing express your appreciation and offer him/ her to visit your home with his/her family
Sample Response
Dear Mr Ralph, Hope you are doing well by the grace of the Almighty. My name is Roger Freddie, who you took care of after an accident last week. And, I am writing this letter to express how grateful I am to you because of saving my life. I am greatly indebted to you because if you were not brave and decisive enough to immediately transport me to the nearest hospital after that big truck had hit my motorbike from behind on that fatal day, I don’t think that I would be alive today to say “thank you” to you. I would also like to say that it is because of Samaritans like you, this world still is a good place to live and still has some hope and goodness left in it. I know that I would never be able to repay you back for the most wonderful charitable deed you did for me, but it would make me feel a little better if you would be kind enough to at least visit my home sometime in the next week and have dinner with my family. Please also bring your family with you, if you like. Yours sincerely, Roger Freddie
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Complete sentence Original: Hope you are doing well Suggested revision: I hope you are doing well Why it matters: A formal or semi-formal letter should use a complete sentence.
- 2. Register choice Original: by the grace of the Almighty Suggested revision: Delete Why it matters: This may be too personal or culturally specific for a letter to someone you barely know.
- 3. Relative clause Original: who you took care of Suggested revision: whom you took care of Why it matters: "Whom" is more formal when referring to the object of the clause.
- 4. Avoid And opening Original: And, I am writing Suggested revision: I am writing Why it matters: Starting with "And" is unnecessary and less polished.
- 5. Preposition pattern Original: because of saving my life Suggested revision: for saving my life Why it matters: Use "grateful to you for" an action.
- 6. Overstatement Original: fatal day Suggested revision: terrible day Why it matters: "Fatal" means causing death, so it is inaccurate because the writer survived.
- 7. Conditional polish Original: I don’t think that I would be alive today Suggested revision: I do not think I would be alive today Why it matters: The contraction is acceptable informally, but the full form is more polished here.
- 8. Clear wording Original: Samaritans like you Suggested revision: kind people like you Why it matters: This is clearer for a broad audience and less culturally loaded.
- 9. Adverb position Original: this world still is a good place Suggested revision: this world is still a good place Why it matters: The adverb "still" is more natural after "is".
- 10. Redundant phrase Original: repay you back Suggested revision: repay you Why it matters: "Repay" already includes the idea of "back".
- 11. Natural thanks Original: charitable deed Suggested revision: kind act Why it matters: This sounds warmer and more natural in a thank-you letter.
- 12. Specific invitation Original: sometime in the next week Suggested revision: next Saturday evening Why it matters: A specific time would make the invitation clearer and more useful.
Suggested Rewrites
- Hope you are doing well I hope you are doing well
- by the grace of the Almighty Delete
- who you took care of whom you took care of
- And, I am writing I am writing
- because of saving my life for saving my life
- fatal day terrible day
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
The letter introduces the writer, explains the accident, expresses strong gratitude, and invites the helper and family to visit. The task is fully covered and the tone is warm.
Make the invitation slightly more specific by giving a date, time, or contact detail for the visit.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message progresses clearly from greeting to identity, gratitude, explanation, and invitation. It would benefit from paragraph breaks and less repetition in the middle.
Divide the response into three paragraphs and shorten the long gratitude sentence.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is expressive and appropriate for gratitude, with phrases such as "brave and decisive" and "greatly indebted". Some expressions are too dramatic or unnatural, including "fatal day" and "repay you back".
Keep the sincere tone but replace exaggerated or redundant phrases with natural thank-you language.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
There is a good range of complex grammar, but errors occur in relative clauses, prepositions, redundancy, and sentence fragments. Meaning remains clear.
Check sentence openings and preposition patterns, especially after "grateful" and "because".