You have recently heard that a friend of yours has had some problems as a result of some unusual weather. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - express concern (i.e. - say you are sorry to hear what has happened) - tell them about a similar experience that you once had - give some advice or - offer help
Sample Response
Dear Anna and Leo, We were shocked to hear from Lara about the storm that hit your city recently and the damage done to your house. How awful to come home from your holiday to find the roof blown off the house! I understand how you must feel, as we had a similar experience a few years ago when there was a sudden electrical storm here in Sydney. I came home from work to find that a tree had fallen on top of the house and all the windows were broken. Fortunately the insurance covered the cost of the repairs, but it was still very upsetting. I suppose you have to think positively in situations like this and look at the opportunity you have to improve your house - give it a new look. If we can do anything for you in the holidays, we'd be happy to help. Drop us a line and let us know. Best wishes
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Remove wordiness Original: damage done to your house Suggested revision: damage to your house Why it matters: The shorter phrase expresses the same idea more naturally.
- 2. Avoid repeated noun Original: the roof blown off the house Suggested revision: the roof blown off Why it matters: The second reference to the house is unnecessary because the roof’s location is already clear.
- 3. Use precise preposition Original: on top of the house Suggested revision: onto the house Why it matters: “Onto” more precisely expresses the tree’s movement and final position.
- 4. Add introductory comma Original: Fortunately the insurance Suggested revision: Fortunately, the insurance Why it matters: The introductory adverb should be followed by a comma.
- 5. Use natural phrasing Original: in Suggested revision: during Why it matters: “During” is the more natural preposition for an offer covering a period.
- 6. Complete the sign-off Original: Best wishes Suggested revision: Best wishes, [Your names] Why it matters: The friendly closing needs punctuation and identification of the writers.
- 7. Sentence rewrite Original: I suppose you have to think positively in situations like this and look at the opportunity you have to improve your house - give it a new look. Suggested revision: I hope you can stay positive and use the repairs as an opportunity to give the house a new look. Why it matters: The softer wording makes the advice more sensitive while preserving the intended encouragement.
- 8. Sentence rewrite Original: Drop us a line and let us know. Suggested revision: Drop us a line and let us know how we can help. Why it matters: The revision connects the invitation directly to the offer of assistance.
- 9. Separate response stages Suggested revision: Use separate paragraphs for concern, the similar experience, and the advice and offer of help. Why it matters: Grouping each communicative purpose would make the friendly letter easier to follow.
Suggested Rewrites
- damage done to your house damage to your house
- the roof blown off the house the roof blown off
- on top of the house onto the house
- Fortunately the insurance Fortunately, the insurance
- in during
- Best wishes Best wishes, [Your names]
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter is warm, natural, and fully responsive, combining genuine concern with a well-developed comparable experience, constructive advice, and a practical offer of help. Its main limitation is that these distinct communicative stages appear in one continuous paragraph, reducing readability. Organising the concern, personal story, and advice or offer into separate paragraphs, and adding the sender's name, would complete the informal letter more effectively.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response fulfils every bullet point in an appropriately personal tone and supports each purpose with specific, believable detail.
Add the sender's name after the closing to complete the letter convention and make the ending feel fully finished.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message develops smoothly from concern to a parallel experience and then to advice and an offer of assistance.
Divide these stages into purposeful paragraphs so the structure is immediately visible to the reader.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied, natural, and well matched to an informal letter, with vivid but controlled descriptions of the storm damage.
Broaden the wording of reassurance and support slightly so the final advice is as distinctive as the description of the experience.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter demonstrates flexible, accurate control of complex clauses, tense shifts, and conversational sentence patterns.
Maintain this control while using punctuation and paragraph boundaries to give the longer sentences even clearer shape.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently heard that a friend of yours has had some problems as a result of some unusual weather. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- express concern (i.e.
- say you are sorry to hear what has happened)
- tell them about a similar experience that you once had
- give some advice or
- offer help
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.