You would like to participate in a work-related seminar in another country. Write a letter to the person in charge of the seminar. In your letter: - ask for information about the seminar dates - ask for details of the programme - ask about accommodation - ask about the cost
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
I would like to participate in the seminar you are going to organise next month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I learned about it from your website and I believe such a seminar will help me perform better in my current job. As the website did not include all the details, I am hoping that you would be kind enough to answer some of my queries. As I live in BangladeshI am residing in Bangladesh, I would like to know the exact dates, venue and programmeprogram schedule so that I can plan my tripplan for the trip. Various actions, including taking time off from the office, applying for a visa and preparing for the trip are related to the seminar schedule. In addition to that, please inform me about the accommodation arrangement - whether it would be managed by the host or do I need to arrange it myself? I would also like to know about the total cost of attending the seminar and other expenses such asother expenditures like accommodation, meals, travel costsfares etc. I request you to provide the answers to my questionsdetails of my queries so that I can complete my arrangementscomplete the arrangement well ahead of time.
Thank you in advance. Yours faithfully, Safayet Ullah
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter has a clear formal purpose and addresses the dates, programme, accommodation, and costs with relevant supporting reasons. Its main limitation is that several requests are packed into one long body paragraph, with occasional awkward wording and one faulty indirect-question structure. Separate the topics into focused paragraphs and use consistently accurate request forms, especially when asking whether accommodation is provided.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response clearly requests all four required types of information and supports the need for the seminar dates with relevant planning details.
Make the programme request more specific by asking about session topics, speakers, or the daily timetable rather than only the general schedule.
Coherence and Cohesion
The requests are ordered logically and connected clearly, but placing all substantive content in one paragraph weakens the overall structure.
Separate the dates and programme, accommodation, and costs into short focused paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is appropriately formal and sufficiently varied, although some combinations such as accommodation arrangement and details of my queries sound unnatural.
Use more precise phrases such as accommodation arrangements and answers to my questions.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Sentence structures show good variety and are mostly accurate, with occasional punctuation and question-structure errors that do not obscure meaning.
Maintain an indirect-question structure throughout, for example whether the host would arrange accommodation or whether the writer must arrange it.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You would like to participate in a work-related seminar in another country. Write a letter to the person in charge of the seminar. In your letter:
- ask for information about the seminar dates
- ask for details of the programme
- ask about accommodation
- ask about the cost
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.