You went to another city for a training course and stayed at a friend's house for a week. They have been great hosts. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - thank them for having you at their house for a week - express your gratitude for their hospitality - say how much you miss them
Sample Response
Dear Robert, Hope all is well at your end. I'm also carrying on well with my life and works. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how grateful and thankful I really am for allowing me to stay at your house for the whole week in order to help me attend the training course in the last month. After all, it would have been really difficult for me to find another suitable place on such short notice since I was informed about the training programme only just a few days before the start of the training. I'm also very much grateful for the kind and generous hospitality that were shown to me by your entire family. I especially enjoyed my afternoon snack time with your whole family after returning from my training. Besides, I also liked how you took me to do fishing at a nearby lake during the weekend while making a video of it. In fact, during that one week of stay at your place, I very much felt like a part of your great family, so no wonder that I miss all of you after leaving your city. Please send my gratitude to everyone in your family. Warm wishes, Thomas
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Separate greeting Original: Dear Robert, Hope Suggested revision: Dear Robert, I hope Why it matters: The salutation and first sentence should be separated.
- 2. Natural phrase Original: at your end Suggested revision: with you Why it matters: This expression sounds less natural in this friendly opening.
- 3. Noun form Original: works Suggested revision: work Why it matters: Work is usually uncountable in this sense.
- 4. Remove filler Original: Anyway, I just wanted Suggested revision: Delete Why it matters: Anyway weakens the transition into the purpose of the letter.
- 5. Avoid repetition Original: grateful and thankful Suggested revision: grateful Why it matters: The two adjectives repeat the same idea.
- 6. Concise phrase Original: the Suggested revision: a Why it matters: This is a more natural phrase here.
- 7. Simpler purpose Original: in order to help me attend Suggested revision: so I could attend Why it matters: This is shorter and more conversational.
- 8. Time phrase Original: in the last month Suggested revision: last month Why it matters: The preposition is unnecessary.
- 9. Smoother link Original: After all, Suggested revision: As you know, Why it matters: After all is slightly argumentative in this context.
- 10. Reduce redundancy Original: only just a few days Suggested revision: only a few days Why it matters: Only just is redundant here.
- 11. Natural phrase Original: very much grateful Suggested revision: very grateful Why it matters: Very much grateful is not idiomatic.
- 12. Agreement Original: were Suggested revision: was Why it matters: Hospitality is singular, so use was.
Suggested Rewrites
- Dear Robert, Hope Dear Robert, I hope
- at your end with you
- works work
- Anyway, I just wanted Delete
- grateful and thankful grateful
- the a
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully addresses the purpose in a warm, personal tone, giving clear thanks and specific memories that make the gratitude convincing. Its main weakness is presentation: the entire message sits in one long paragraph, while a few redundant or awkward expressions and small grammatical slips reduce polish. Organise the ideas into short paragraphs and make the final statement about missing the family more direct and personal.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter thanks the friend, describes hospitality, and says the writer misses them. The informal purpose is achieved well.
Make the “I miss you” point more direct and personal near the end.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is warm and coherent, but one long paragraph weakens organisation.
Use paragraphs for thanks, hospitality details, memories, and missing the family.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible and friendly, though some phrases are redundant or unnatural.
Avoid double expressions such as “grateful and thankful”.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
There is a range of sentence forms, but errors with prepositions, plural nouns, and agreement appear.
Check agreement with abstract nouns and gerund phrases after “go”.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You went to another city for a training course and stayed at a friend's house for a week. They have been great hosts. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- thank them for having you at their house for a week
- express your gratitude for their hospitality
- say how much you miss them
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.