Your English-speaking friend has asked for your help with a college project he/she is doing about celebrating New Year in different countries. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - say how important New Year is to people in your country - describe how New Year is celebrated in your country - explain what you like about New Year celebrations in your country
Sample Response
Dear Leslie,
I'm so delighted to receive your letter in which you've informed me about a college project on "the New Year celebration" in a different country than yours. I'll share some information that I believe will help you complete the project.
To give you some details of the importance of the New Year to the people in my country, I'd like to mention that this is perhaps the most celebrated event in my country where people from all walks of life come together with renewed hope, motivation and joy. They look forward to the upcoming year with new fervour, and most of them have some kind of New Year resolution that they take seriously.
On New Year's Eve, people exchange greetings and messages and wear the best dresses. They greet each other and share fond memories with dear ones. They also have lively street parties and fireworks that lighten the sky like bright daylight. Bright sky lanterns, mostly red, are a common sight.
Personally, I like the way people greet each other on that day which brings them together. I also love the fact that they meet their loved ones, and all of them harness new inspirations to do better in the coming year which is really inspiring for me.
I hope this will help you complete your project. In case you need more information, I am always here to help.
Best wishes,
Grace
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use completed-time tense Original: I'm so delighted to receive Suggested revision: I was delighted to receive Why it matters: The past tense suits a reaction to a letter that has already arrived.
- 2. Use natural wording Original: letter in which you've informed me about Suggested revision: letter telling me about Why it matters: The shorter phrase is more natural in a friendly letter.
- 3. Use general plural Original: on "the New Year celebration" Suggested revision: on "New Year celebrations" Why it matters: The plural naturally describes the various ways New Year is celebrated.
- 4. Correct comparison phrase Original: in a different country than yours Suggested revision: in a country other than yours Why it matters: Other than is the correct expression for distinguishing the project country from the friend's country.
- 5. State purpose directly Original: To give you some details of Suggested revision: To explain Why it matters: The direct verb removes unnecessary introductory wording.
- 6. Use concise wording Original: importance of the New Year to the people Suggested revision: importance of New Year to people Why it matters: The shorter phrase conveys the same general meaning more naturally.
- 7. Name the event Original: this is perhaps the most Suggested revision: New Year is perhaps the most Why it matters: Naming New Year removes the vague reference and makes the importance claim explicit.
- 8. Add a comma Original: my country where people Suggested revision: my country, where people Why it matters: The non-defining where clause needs a comma before it.
- 9. Use possessive form Original: some kind of New Year resolution Suggested revision: a New Year's resolution Why it matters: New Year's is the conventional possessive form in this expression.
- 10. Correct the collocation Original: wear the best dresses Suggested revision: wear their best clothes Why it matters: People wear their best clothes; dresses would incorrectly limit the statement to one garment type.
- 11. Use natural wording Original: with dear ones Suggested revision: with their loved ones Why it matters: Their loved ones is the natural phrase for family members and close friends.
- 12. Correct the phrasal verb Original: fireworks that lighten the sky Suggested revision: fireworks that light up the sky Why it matters: Light up is the natural phrasal verb for making the sky bright.
Suggested Rewrites
- I'm so delighted to receive I was delighted to receive
- letter in which you've informed me about letter telling me about
- on "the New Year celebration" on "New Year celebrations"
- in a different country than yours in a country other than yours
- To give you some details of To explain
- importance of the New Year to the people importance of New Year to people
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter fully supports the friend’s project with a warm, appropriate tone and well-developed coverage of New Year’s importance, common celebrations, and the writer’s personal enjoyment. Its strongest feature is the clear paragraphing around the three requested points. The main opportunity is refinement: reduce repeated ideas about inspiration and togetherness, and replace a few awkward expressions with more natural descriptions of traditions and personal feelings.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully and relevantly developed in a consistently suitable informal register.
Add one country-specific tradition or food to make the project information even more distinctive and concrete.
Coherence and Cohesion
Paragraphing maps clearly onto the purpose and bullet points, with smooth progression from importance to celebration and personal preference.
Trim repeated references to renewed inspiration so the final personal paragraph remains concise and focused.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and expressive, with occasional unnatural phrases such as ‘wear the best dresses’ and ‘harness new inspirations’.
Use natural alternatives such as ‘dress in their finest clothes’, ‘make resolutions’, and ‘feel inspired for the year ahead’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A broad range of structures is generally well controlled, with minor issues in relative-clause reference, repetition, and sentence length.
Shorten the final long sentence and ensure each relative clause clearly modifies the intended event or action.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your English-speaking friend has asked for your help with a college project he/she is doing about celebrating New Year in different countries. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- say how important New Year is to people in your country
- describe how New Year is celebrated in your country
- explain what you like about New Year celebrations in your country
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.