You recently visited a tourist attraction and you were very pleased with the help given to you by the staff. Write a letter to the head of staff at the tourist attraction. In your letter: - give details of the circumstances of your visit - describe the help given to you by the staff - say what you want the head staff to do
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I recently visitedhave recently visited the Vinevasi Waterfallfamous Vinevasi Waterfall after hearing about it from a friendafter learning it from a friend and used your tour servicetook your service for the tour. The service I receivedThe service I was offered was excellent and I would like to thank you for that. I was not exactly planning to visit the waterfall, but thenbut, then I had to travel unexpectedly to Kuala Lumpurtravel to Kuala Lumpur suddenly for a business trip, and that is when I remembered what my friend had told me about the attractionyour tourist place. After finishing my work,So, after finishing my work, I decided to visit your beautiful tourist attraction for a couple of days. After arriving there,But, after arriving there, I asked myself why I had not planned for a longer stay because all of your staff members were very courteous and friendly. They did not just make sure that I was comfortable on the tourist bus and at the hotel, but also made sure my belongings were kept in the right place. They took me to an excellent local restaurantthe best local restaurant and toldinformed me a great deal about the history of the place. I would like to thank you. Also, please convey my good wishes to your staff. I would like to mention that, after talking to some staff members, I felt thatlike they were not getting enough time off from their workworks. So, I would be glad if you could addressif you try to address that issue to make sure that they feel even more appreciatedfeel appreciated even more for what they do. Yours faithfully, Rogerio Frugardo
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter gives a detailed account of the visit, specific examples of the staff’s help, and clear requests to the manager in an appropriately formal tone. The main limitation is occasional awkward wording and loose sentence control; the highest-priority improvement is to replace unnatural collocations and trim punctuation-heavy sentences so the praise and requests sound more polished and precise.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All bullet points are fully developed with relevant circumstances, concrete examples of assistance, and clear actions requested from the head of staff.
Refine the final request so that the praise and concern about staff leave are expressed even more concisely.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information follows a clear chronological and functional sequence, though the single paragraph and repeated use of basic linkers reduce structural clarity.
Divide the letter into clear paragraphs for the visit, the staff’s assistance, and the requested actions.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and generally precise, but collocations such as ‘took your service’, ‘tourist place’, and ‘time off from their works’ are unnatural.
Use idiomatic alternatives such as ‘used your tour service’, ‘attraction’, and ‘time off work’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A broad range of complex sentences is used successfully, with some distracting comma placement and occasional errors in clause construction.
Remove unnecessary commas and use more accurate conditional phrasing, such as ‘I would be grateful if you could address this issue’.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently visited a tourist attraction and you were very pleased with the help given to you by the staff. Write a letter to the head of staff at the tourist attraction. In your letter:
- give details of the circumstances of your visit
- describe the help given to you by the staff
- say what you want the head staff to do
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.