You will move to a new city for work. You know some people who live there. Write a letter to someone you know who lives there. In your letter: - ask them for help in finding accommodation - tell them where you would like to live - tell them the type of place you are looking for
Sample Response
Dear Mr and Mrs WilliamsMr & Mrs Williams, You willwould be happy to hear that I have recently been offered a job in Brisbane and I will be movingI would move into the South Bank area soon. It would be an great pleasureabsolute delight to live in your city as I would be able to meet you frequentlyable to frequently meet you. Could you please help me findI would like to ask if you can help me find a place to liveliving place before I arrive. I believe you could help me to find somewhere to livesomewhere to live in as you have a wide social circle. Ideally, I would like to live close to my workplace, which ismy workplace which happens to be in the South Bank area of Brisbanethe Bank area in Brisbane. If this is not possible, my second preference is the downtown district. As I exercise regularlydo exercise regularly, it would be great to be near a park as wellnear a park too. Obviously, I will be looking for a flat, rather than a house, as it is just going to be me and I won’t be able to afford too much. So, a place with one bedroom would suit meone bedroom is fine, but I would like to have a private bathroom and a kitchenprivate bathroom, a kitchen. I would prefer to live somewhere new, so anything in a modern apartment block would be great. I look forward to seeingmeeting you soon. Yours sincerely, Alan Martin
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter fully addresses the accommodation request with clear preferences for location, size, facilities, and style, while maintaining a warm and suitably respectful tone. Its main limitation is occasional awkward or imprecise phrasing, compounded by presenting all ideas in one paragraph. The highest-priority improvement is to organise the request into distinct paragraphs and replace unnatural expressions with more idiomatic wording.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are fully covered, and the details and tone suit a letter to acquaintances.
Make the request even more precise by clarifying the apparent distinction between South Bank and the workplace's Bank area.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from the move and request to location preferences and accommodation specifications, with effective linking throughout.
Separate the opening, location preferences, and property requirements into clear paragraphs to strengthen organisation.
Lexical Resource
The letter uses a good range of vocabulary for housing, location, and personal preferences, though a few collocations sound unnatural.
Replace phrases such as living place and somewhere to live in with the more idiomatic accommodation and somewhere to live.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A varied range of complex and simple structures is used with strong control, and the few errors do not impede meaning.
Polish minor structures, especially using will rather than would for the planned move and coordinating the facilities list cleanly.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You will move to a new city for work. You know some people who live there. Write a letter to someone you know who lives there. In your letter:
- ask them for help in finding accommodation
- tell them where you would like to live
- tell them the type of place you are looking for
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.