You are working for a company. You need to take some time off work and want to ask your manager about this. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter: - explain why you want to take time off work? - give details of the amount of time you need? - suggest how your work could be covered while you are away?
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing this letter regardingin regards to taking three hours off work each daythree hours off from my job for the next three months.
DeleteActually, I am planning to take an advanced courseplanning for an upgraded course Deletein the current scenario in QA/ QC management. PeriodicallyAfter certain intervals, quality-assurance standards and related requirementsquality assurance laws and their related quotes have changedhave been changed over the last decade. I think it is important to stay up to datebetter to be updated in this fieldin the relevant fields, and, and also, it will be helpful for the organization to deliver excellent quality.
I have enquired about advanced courses atenquired about the advanced course with numerous leading universities in our town. Both full-time and part-time courses are available in this fieldfor the same. Due to the demands of my jobimportance of the job nature, I have selected the evening coursebatch for three hours daily. I think this time is ample for me to cover the classes.
I havehad already discussed this matter with fellow members of my department. For those three hours each dayFor daily three hours, I will hand over my dutiesI hand over my job to Mr Rahul for three months. Furthermore, I will complete my pending jobs every weekend without fail. Apart from this, I will be available on my mobile number for any urgent mattersimmediate urgencies.
Expecting a favourable reply and I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response addresses all three requests with useful detail about the course schedule and proposed cover arrangements, and its paragraphing makes the message easy to follow. The main weakness is frequent awkward or imprecise phrasing, alongside recurring grammatical slips that reduce professionalism. Prioritise clear, idiomatic sentences when explaining the course and the handover plan so the request sounds more credible and polished.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly requests three hours off daily, explains the training purpose, and gives practical arrangements for covering the work.
Clarify exactly when the evening course overlaps with working hours and address the manager directly for a more convincing request.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas are grouped by the three bullet points and progress clearly, although some linking expressions are mechanical.
Connect sentences through their meaning rather than repeatedly relying on stock transitions such as “Furthermore” and “Apart from this.”
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient range for the workplace and training topic, but frequent inaccurate collocations make the language sound unnatural.
Use precise phrases such as “advanced course,” “industry standards,” “work commitments,” and “urgent matters.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response attempts varied sentence structures, but errors in tense, articles, word order, and sentence completion recur.
Keep the request and handover plan in consistent future forms and revise fragments into complete sentences.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are working for a company. You need to take some time off work and want to ask your manager about this. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter:
- explain why you want to take time off work?
- give details of the amount of time you need?
- suggest how your work could be covered while you are away?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.