Your new neighbours have recently invited you to a party they are holding next Saturday. However, you have other plans on Saturday evening and cannot attend the party. Write a letter to your neighbours. In your letter: - thank them for the invitation - mention what plans you already have - suggest when you can meet them
Sample Response
Dear Mr and Mrs Nicholas, I hope both of you are in good health and spiritsspirit, and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to our neighbourhood. I am also very grateful to youso glad and thankful to you because you have kindly invited metaken the trouble to extend me an invitation to join your party which you are planning to hold next Saturday eveningplanning to hold on next Saturday evening. However, much as I would likeas much as I like the idea of attending your party, it looks like I will not be able to do so because I have some other plans for that evening. In fact, I will have to take my grandfather to the doctor that evening. Later on that evening, after my grandfather’s appointmentafter visiting my grandfather’s doctor, I willwould also need to go and see off my nephew at the airport. So, this Saturday evening is going to be very busy for me, and I am sorry that I can not make it to your party on the same evening.
I would, however, be more than happy to meet you and greet you in person the next day at around 6:00 pm if you are free at that time. All you need to do is just let me know whether you can meet me then. Also, I can come over to your place or you can come to my house if you like. Yours sincerely, George Tobias
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter responds warmly and completely, giving clear thanks, specific reasons for being unavailable, and a practical alternative meeting time. Its main limitation is a somewhat over-formal, wordy style for new neighbours, together with several awkward grammatical and lexical choices. The highest-priority improvement is to make the message more natural and concise while preserving its friendly tone and the useful detail supporting each requested point.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully developed, the purpose is immediately clear, and the courteous tone is consistently suitable.
Adopt a slightly more relaxed neighbourly register so the response sounds warm without becoming ceremonious.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response follows a clear sequence from thanks and refusal to reasons and an alternative meeting arrangement, although the first paragraph is overly long.
Divide the opening, explanation of Saturday’s plans, and proposed meeting into shorter focused paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
The writer uses a broad enough range to express gratitude, apology, and arrangements, but some wording is formal or awkward for the relationship.
Prefer natural phrases such as “thank you for inviting me” and “see my nephew off” over longer formulaic expressions.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied complex structures are generally accurate and meaning remains clear, despite occasional preposition, modal, and spacing errors.
Remove unnecessary prepositions in time phrases, keep future forms consistent, and write “cannot” as one word.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your new neighbours have recently invited you to a party they are holding next Saturday. However, you have other plans on Saturday evening and cannot attend the party. Write a letter to your neighbours. In your letter:
- thank them for the invitation
- mention what plans you already have
- suggest when you can meet them
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.