You are studying for a qualification, and you would like some time off from your work to complete it. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter: - ask for some time off to complete the qualification - suggest what you will do later at work if you have time off - say how the qualification will help your job or company
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing this letter to requestexplore the possibility of having leave from 12th June to 27th Junea fortnight off from my work, from 12th June to 27th June, in order to complete my Advanced Diploma courseAdvance diploma course in Digital Business and Trade. I am almost finished with the course, and now all I need to do is take the final exams which will start within two weeks. Luckily, I still have some unused annual leaveleaves, and I want to finally use ituse them up by taking the final exams to finish my diploma course. HoweverHaving said that, however, if you feelif my company still feels that I would need to make up for those missing days at work, I would be more than happy to work on the weekends as well as arrive at work earlyshow up early at work once the exams are over. For your kind information, this particular certification is important for me and the company since it will help me, in the capacity of a Senior Marketing Manager, to better position my company to reach a large number of prospective customerstap into a huge number of prospective customers who want to buy our products online. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, Kelly Bower
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter fully explains the requested dates, the examination reason, the proposed way to make up the time, and the commercial value of the qualification, while maintaining a suitably respectful tone. Its main limitation is presentation: the whole message, including the greeting and sign-off, is compressed into one paragraph, and a few expressions are less natural than the otherwise strong language. The priority is to organise each communicative purpose into a separate paragraph.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are clearly and specifically developed, with an appropriate formal request and a convincing explanation of company benefit.
Refine the opening salutation for a known manager and state the requested approval even more directly.
Coherence and Cohesion
The content follows a clear sequence from request to compensation and benefit, but the absence of paragraph breaks weakens the letter's organisation.
Place the request, make-up arrangement, and business benefit in distinct body paragraphs, with the closing on separate lines.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible and suitably formal, with only occasional awkward choices such as unused annual leaves and use them up.
Use more natural workplace phrasing such as remaining annual leave and take my final examinations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A broad range of complex structures is used accurately, and the few grammatical slips do not affect communication.
Polish noun forms and modifier choices, particularly Advanced Diploma and annual leave, to increase precision.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are studying for a qualification, and you would like some time off from your work to complete it. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter:
- ask for some time off to complete the qualification
- suggest what you will do later at work if you have time off
- say how the qualification will help your job or company
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.