You have been offered a job and have been asked to start next week. You want the job, but because of a previous commitment you want to delay starting for two weeks. Write to the manager. In your letter: - accept the job - explain your situation - ask for a change to your start date
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, First of all, I would like to thank you for offering me the position of Senior Accounting Analyst at your company. FurthermoreNot to mention, I would like to begin the role promptlystart the job as soon as possible since I am looking forward to joining your companystarting my work at your company. However, it appears thatBut, it looks like I will not be able to start next weekstart from next week, as you have asked, because of several commitments to my current employera few commitments with my current employer. In fact, the employment contract, I have with my current employer, clearly states I will have to give my current employer at least two weeks' notice before leaving the company. Besides, I still have a few important projects in handprojects in my hands to complete personallyto finish all by myself and hand them over to my superior because currentlybecause, currently, I am the only qualified personpersonnel in my company to take care of these tasks professionallyin a professional manner. Therefore, based on these prior commitmentsprior commitments and obligations I mentioned above, I would be gratefulgrateful to you if you could kindly delayif you kindly delay my start date for the positionmy starting date for this job position by two weeksuntil another two weeks. Thank you for your considerationconsideration in advance. Yours faithfully, Adam Finch
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter communicates enthusiasm for the job, gives a credible and well-developed explanation involving contractual notice and unfinished projects, and makes a polite request for a delayed start. Its main limitation is that the acceptance is somewhat indirect and the whole letter is compressed into one paragraph, while several phrases sound unnatural. The highest-priority improvement is to state acceptance explicitly, propose an exact revised date, and organise the explanation and request into separate paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The job is effectively accepted, the existing commitments are fully explained, and a polite two-week delay is requested in an appropriate formal tone.
Write an explicit acceptance sentence and give the exact new date on which employment can begin.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas progress logically from appreciation to explanation and request, but the single-paragraph format and repetitive references reduce organisational clarity.
Use separate paragraphs for accepting the offer, explaining the current obligations, and requesting the revised date.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied and formal, though several collocations are awkward and references to the employer, company, and position are repetitive.
Use natural phrases such as 'honoured to accept', 'complete and hand over my projects', and 'postpone my start date by two weeks'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex structures conveys the message clearly, but punctuation, prepositions, and some clause patterns are not consistently controlled.
Remove unnecessary commas and revise forms such as 'start next week', 'my contract states that', and 'I would be grateful if you could postpone'.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have been offered a job and have been asked to start next week. You want the job, but because of a previous commitment you want to delay starting for two weeks. Write to the manager. In your letter:
- accept the job
- explain your situation
- ask for a change to your start date
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.