You work for an international company. You have seen an advertisement for a training course which will be useful for your job. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter: - describe the training course you want to do - explain what the company could do to help you - say how the course will be useful for your job
Sample Response
Dear Mrs Margarita, I am writing this letter to express my interest in attending an important training course called ‘Introduction to Advanced Supply Chain Management System’ after coming across its advertisement in one of our local newspapers last week. This is a 3 month long part-time course that will start on 17 January, and classes will be held 3 times a week on weekdays in the evenings, from 4 pm to 7 pm. I am quite convinced that the course will not only help in enhancing my skills as a Junior Logistic Manager but will also provide me with enough clarity on more advanced logistic approaches of the 21st century. As you know, as an export-oriented company, logistics will always play an important role in delivery cost reduction and ensure the safe delivery of our products worldwide. Therefore, I would like to request you to allow me to leave early twice a week for the next 3 months to attend this training course. Also, the fee for attending this course is quite high, so it would be great if I could get some funding from our staff training fund. Yours sincerely, Phillip Ray
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Separate salutation Original: Dear Mrs Margarita, I am Suggested revision: Dear Mrs Margarita, I am Why it matters: A formal workplace letter should place its salutation on a separate line.
- 2. Remove redundant noun Original: writing this letter to express Suggested revision: writing to express Why it matters: The context already makes clear that this is a letter.
- 3. Use concise discovery phrase Original: after coming across its advertisement Suggested revision: after seeing an advertisement for it Why it matters: The revision is shorter and gives the pronoun a clear relationship to the course.
- 4. Hyphenate compound duration Original: a 3 month long Suggested revision: a three-month-long Why it matters: A multiword duration used before a noun requires singular forms and hyphens.
- 5. Spell short number Original: 3 Suggested revision: three Why it matters: Numbers below ten are normally written as words in formal prose.
- 6. Use concise schedule phrase Original: on weekdays in the evenings Suggested revision: on weekday evenings Why it matters: The compact phrase avoids redundant prepositions.
- 7. Use confident verb Original: quite convinced Suggested revision: confident Why it matters: "Confident" states the writer's assessment directly and concisely.
- 8. Use direct infinitive pattern Original: help in enhancing my skills Suggested revision: help enhance my skills Why it matters: "Help" can take the bare infinitive without "in."
- 9. Use logistics job title Original: Logistic Suggested revision: Logistics Why it matters: The field and job function are called "logistics," not "logistic."
- 10. Use understanding phrase Original: enough clarity on Suggested revision: a clearer understanding of Why it matters: This is the natural collocation for gaining knowledge of a subject.
- 11. Use professional terminology Original: more advanced logistic approaches Suggested revision: advanced logistics practices Why it matters: "Logistics practices" is more precise than "logistic approaches."
- 12. Use active cost phrase Original: delivery cost reduction Suggested revision: reducing delivery costs Why it matters: The gerund phrase is clearer and more natural.
Suggested Rewrites
- Dear Mrs Margarita, I am Dear Mrs Margarita, I am
- writing this letter to express writing to express
- after coming across its advertisement after seeing an advertisement for it
- a 3 month long a three-month-long
- 3 three
- on weekdays in the evenings on weekday evenings
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter’s strongest feature is its specific, business-focused request: it identifies the course, schedule, expected job benefits, and two forms of company support. Its main limitation is language precision, with several awkward logistics collocations and a mismatch between three weekly classes and the request to leave early twice; the highest-priority improvement is to reconcile the schedule and explain exactly how the remaining session will be managed.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All bullet points are fully addressed with concrete course details, relevant benefits, and clear requests for time and financial support.
Explain how all three weekly classes will be attended when early leave is requested only twice per week.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter progresses clearly from course details to professional benefits and requested support, although paragraphing would make the sections easier to scan.
Divide the course description, value to the company, and practical requests into three focused paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is suitably professional and specific, with occasional awkward combinations such as “logistic approaches” and “delivery cost reduction.”
Use “logistics methods,” “reduce delivery costs,” and “Junior Logistics Manager.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are mostly controlled, but compound modifiers, parallel verbs, and agreement are not consistently accurate.
Write “a three-month part-time course” and ensure “logistics can reduce costs and ensure safe delivery” has parallel verb forms.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You work for an international company. You have seen an advertisement for a training course which will be useful for your job. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter:
- describe the training course you want to do
- explain what the company could do to help you
- say how the course will be useful for your job
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.