Some people say that people remember special gifts or presents that they receive. Why do you think that is?
Sample Response
In our life, we get a lot of presents in different occasions. Some of these are special to us and we consider those as distinctive souvenirs. I still remember the gift I got from my uncle on my 5th birthday. It was a big doll with a blond hair and I loved it so much and it was my favourite toy in my childhood. I believe, people remember special gifts due to a variety of reasons and in the following paragraphs, I will elaborate this. Presents are substantial in our life, they are meant to show love and care. It does not matter if the gift is expensive or not, it is enough to get a present in a special day in our life. Some gifts are given as incentives for doing something good or exemplary. People remember those gifts for a long time. For example, when I was a little child at a school, teachers encouraged us to study well by giving us banknotes as a souvenir. Actually, I still keep these banknotes and still remember our teachers. I will always remember how these presents gave me a positive spirit to study well. There are many gifts we cannot forget because they are given by people we love and care. For me, the first gift I gave to my mother in the Mother's day, was a simple one but I cannot forget how she gave me a warm hug and cried in joy. She still keeps this present and always says ''it is the most precious present I ever had!'' It is important to show our feelings to those who are special in our life by sharing the happiness and joy and giving them gifts. Gifts are important because they are the token of our appreciation, metaphor of love and care and some of such gifts become special to us because they are given on special occasion by someone special. Naturally, we remember such presents for a long.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use plural noun Original: life Suggested revision: lives Why it matters: The plural possessive 'our' requires the general reference 'lives'.
- 2. Correct preposition Original: in Suggested revision: on Why it matters: English uses 'on' with occasions and events.
- 3. Fix verb pattern Original: consider those as Suggested revision: consider them Why it matters: 'Consider' takes a direct object here without 'as', and 'them' correctly refers back to the presents.
- 4. Choose natural collocation Original: distinctive souvenirs Suggested revision: treasured mementos Why it matters: 'Treasured mementos' more naturally describes gifts kept for their emotional significance.
- 5. Remove incorrect article Original: with a blond hair Suggested revision: with blond hair Why it matters: 'Hair' is uncountable when referring to all the hair on a person's or doll's head.
- 6. Remove stray comma Original: I believe, Suggested revision: I believe Why it matters: A comma should not separate 'I believe' from the clause that follows.
- 7. Add required preposition Original: elaborate this Suggested revision: elaborate on this Why it matters: The verb 'elaborate' requires 'on' before its object in this construction.
- 8. Correct day preposition Original: in Suggested revision: on Why it matters: English uses 'on' for a particular day.
- 9. Use school expression Original: a little child at a school Suggested revision: a little child at school Why it matters: The fixed expression 'at school' does not take an article when describing attendance.
- 10. Match meaning and number Original: banknotes as a souvenir Suggested revision: banknotes as rewards Why it matters: The banknotes were incentives, so plural 'rewards' conveys their function and agrees in number.
- 11. Complete phrasal verb Original: people we love and care Suggested revision: people we love and care about Why it matters: 'Care' needs the preposition 'about' when it takes a person as its object.
- 12. Fix holiday phrase Original: in the Mother's day, Suggested revision: on Mother's Day Why it matters: The holiday takes 'on', no article, capital letters, and no comma before the main verb.
Suggested Rewrites
- life lives
- in on
- consider those as consider them
- distinctive souvenirs treasured mementos
- with a blond hair with blond hair
- I believe, I believe
Why this response received Band 6.5
Personal examples and a consistent focus on emotional or motivational associations make the central explanation easy to understand. However, frequent errors with articles, prepositions, collocations, and sentence boundaries reduce fluency, while the unbroken paragraph weakens organisation and one example shifts toward giving rather than receiving a gift. The highest-priority improvement is to revise sentences systematically for grammatical accuracy and natural word choice.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response explains several relevant reasons why gifts remain memorable and supports them with personal examples, though one example focuses more on giving than receiving.
Keep every example centred on the recipient’s memory and explain more explicitly how each gift’s meaning makes it unforgettable.
Coherence and Cohesion
The reasoning follows a generally clear sequence, but presenting the entire response as one paragraph obscures the separation and progression of its main ideas.
Divide the essay into an introduction, distinct body paragraphs for each reason, and a conclusion, using transitions only where they clarify the logic.
Lexical Resource
The response shows a sufficient range of vocabulary and attempts less common expressions, but several choices and collocations are awkward or inaccurate.
Replace unnatural combinations such as “in different occasions” and “for a long” with precise, idiomatic phrasing and check article use around noun phrases.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex sentences communicates the meaning clearly, although recurring article, preposition, agreement, punctuation, and sentence-boundary errors limit control.
Proofread each sentence for articles and prepositions, then separate comma-spliced independent clauses with appropriate punctuation or conjunctions.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people say that people remember special gifts or presents that they receive. Why do you think that is?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.