An English-speaking friend wants to spend a two-week holiday in your region and has written asking for information and advice. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - offer to find somewhere to stay - give advice about what to do - give information about what clothes to bring
Sample Response
Dear Julie,Dear Julie
Thanks so much for your latest letter. I’m really excited to hear that you’re planning to visit Toronto. It will give me a chance to take you around, as you so kindly did for meas you did so kindly for me when I was in Amsterdam last year.
Regarding your visit, I would be happy to help in any way possible. First, unless you really like freezing weather, I suggest you come in the months of July or Augustsummer months of July or August. Though most hotels are expensive at that time, we have some wonderful guest suites available in our high-rise building for onlybuilding, for only about $50 per night. They are fully furnished studio apartments, with a kitchen, so you can eat inwith a kitchen, so you can have the option of eating in. Just let me know your dates and I can make a reservation for you.
Summer is also the time when all the tourist sites are open. We can visit Centre Island, Canada’s Wonderland, Niagara Falls, the CN Tower, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Science Centre and the Thousand Islandsand Thousand Islands. The weather should be warm and comfortable, around 25 – 30 degrees Celsius, so bring your casualinformal summer clothes, a swimsuit and an umbrella too. We do get summer showers quite often.
I can’t wait for you to come! Write soon with more details.details,
Warm wishes,Warm wishes
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter is especially strong in its warm, consistent tone and the specific, practical detail provided about accommodation, attractions, weather, and clothing. There is no substantial weakness, although a few points could be made even more selective and polished. The highest-priority improvement is to refine minor punctuation and condense the long attraction list into a little more personalised advice.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response clearly fulfils its purpose, covers every bullet point, and supports each one with relevant practical detail.
Develop the activity advice slightly by highlighting why one or two attractions would particularly suit the friend.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas are organised into a clear progression, and cohesive devices guide the reader smoothly without drawing attention to themselves.
For an even sharper flow, group the attractions by type rather than presenting one long list.
Lexical Resource
A wide and precise vocabulary is used naturally, with effective informal expressions and topic-specific language.
Refine the already strong wording by replacing the broad phrase ‘informal summer clothes’ with a more precise natural alternative.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled with strong control, and almost all sentences are error-free.
Polish minor letter punctuation by adding commas after the greeting and closing while preserving the varied sentence structures.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
An English-speaking friend wants to spend a two-week holiday in your region and has written asking for information and advice. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- offer to find somewhere to stay
- give advice about what to do
- give information about what clothes to bring
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.