On a recent holiday, you lost a valuable item. Fortunately, you have travel insurance to cover the cost of anything lost. Write a letter to the manager of your insurance company. In your letter: - describe the item you lost - explain how you lost it - tell the insurance company what you would like them to do
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing this letter to inform you that I have lost my professional Canon camera during my trip to Perth and would like to make an insurance claimclaim my insurance for the lost item. I recently purchased one of your travel insurance policiesI have availed one of your insurance services recently, and my policyinsurance number is 25478410. I stayed in Perth with my family between 18th June and 24th June, and I had takenbetween 18th June and 24th June and I had clicked so many amazing pictures during this time. Fortunately, the photos had already been backed up to my cloud storage.Luckily, I transferred all the pictures to my cloud storage. I clearly remember taking our last photoI clearly remember that we took our last photo at the entrance of the hotel and left for the airport. I wanted to capture the final moment of our tripthe last moment of our journey so I looked for my camera, but unfortunatelyso I was looking for my camera and unfortunately, I could not find it. I called the hotel staff to look for it where we took the last photo, but they confirmedwhere we took the last photo but he confirmed that he could not find it. As per the travel insurance, I am entitled to receive compensation for the lost itemreceive coverage of the lost item. It was a Canon ULX-924 model camera which is currently difficult to replacehard to get due to its high demand. I would like to claim the camera's original priceclaim for the camera's original price as it was a fairly new camera. I would appreciate it if you could process the claim and transfer the reimbursement to my accounttransfer the money into my account. Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Yours faithfully, Naaz Rihal
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully communicates the insurance claim, clearly identifying the camera, explaining its loss, and requesting reimbursement in an appropriately formal tone. Its main limitation is presentation: the single paragraph and some overdeveloped details reduce efficiency, while inaccurate insurance collocations and recurring grammatical slips weaken polish. Prioritise clear paragraphing and standard claim language, then check clause boundaries and pronoun reference so the request is easier to process.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly describes the lost Canon camera, explains how it was lost, gives policy information, and requests payment under the travel insurance. The purpose is fully achieved.
Add the purchase price or attachable proof of value if available to make the claim more specific.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is logically sequenced, but the single-paragraph format makes the claim less easy to process. Some details about photos and cloud storage are useful but slightly overdeveloped.
Use paragraphs for policy details, loss circumstances, item description, and requested action.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is appropriate for an insurance claim, including "claim", "coverage", and "original price". Some collocations are inaccurate, such as "availed one of your insurance services" and "claim my insurance".
Use standard insurance phrases such as "purchased a travel insurance policy" and "make a claim".
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter is clear, with some complex sentences. Errors with verb forms, articles, commas, and pronoun reference reduce grammatical accuracy.
Check clause boundaries and pronouns when describing the hotel staff and the sequence of losing the item.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
On a recent holiday, you lost a valuable item. Fortunately, you have travel insurance to cover the cost of anything lost. Write a letter to the manager of your insurance company. In your letter:
- describe the item you lost
- explain how you lost it
- tell the insurance company what you would like them to do
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.