You have just spent a week with a friend on holiday. When you got home, you realised you had left your wallet there. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - thank your friend for the holiday - explain that you left your wallet in their house - give them instructions on how to send it back to you
Sample Response
Dear John, I hope this letter finds you well.Hope this letter finds you well. I have landed safely in Dubai. I really enjoyed the holiday I spent with you and your familyyou guys. This was one of the best holidays ever. I am writing to thank you and to ask you to send back the walletto request you for the wallet I left at your house. I want to thank you very muchfrom the bottom of my heart for having me at your place and making the trip so special. Last week was hands-down the best time of my life as I had never experiencedas I have never witnessed such a beautiful place and a vibrant culture before. Also, the food you cooked for me was deliciousdelicious and celestial. I already miss the flavourflavour and taste! When I reached Dubai, I realized I had leftI realized I left my wallet at your house. I believe it was sitting atop your piano when I was packing my stuff and I forgot to pick it up in a hurry. Luckily,in a hurry, luckily my passport was not in the wallet, so I was still able to travel. HoweverStill, there are some important items in my wallet, so I would request you to send the wallet by couriercourier the purse to me and I will transfer the courier fee to you immediatelyas soon as possible. You can send it to which is Office 14, Marina Tower, Dubaimy office address as I spend most of my time there. Please say hello to everyone for me.Say hello to all. Warm wishes, Sam
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter has a warm, engaging informal tone and successfully thanks the friend, identifies where the wallet was left, and requests its return. Its main weakness is that the delivery instructions remain incomplete, while one-block organisation, awkward vocabulary, and sentence-control errors reduce polish; the highest-priority improvement is to give the full address and courier details, then organise the message into short, complete paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter thanks the friend for the holiday, explains where the wallet was left, and asks for it to be sent back. The purpose is achieved, but the return instructions are not very complete because no exact address or delivery details are given.
Add the full office address, preferred courier method, and offer to pay the delivery cost.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response follows a sensible order from thanks to wallet explanation and return request. It is written as one block, and one long sentence joins several ideas with a comma splice.
Use short paragraphs and split the wallet explanation into two clear sentences.
Lexical Resource
The tone is friendly and expressive, with good informal phrases such as “hands-down”. Some choices are unnatural or excessive, including “celestial”, “request you for the wallet”, and “courier the purse”.
Use natural informal wording while keeping the request polite and clear.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning is clear, but there are issues with sentence fragments, tense choice, comma splicing, and request structures. These errors are noticeable but not usually confusing.
Check that each sentence has a subject and verb, and avoid joining complete sentences only with a comma.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have just spent a week with a friend on holiday. When you got home, you realised you had left your wallet there. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- thank your friend for the holiday
- explain that you left your wallet in their house
- give them instructions on how to send it back to you
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.