Some people say that people remember special gifts or presents that they receive. Why do you think that is?
Sample Response
Receiving gifts is always exciting and many people remember the gift for a long time. I think that all people like to receive presents from their relatives, friends, co-workers, and people they love and care about etc. Personally, I am sure that a person does not remember all the gifts he receives because it is impossible. However, I think that all people remember some gifts that were special to them. There are many reasons for people to remember those special gifts.
First of all, I believe that people remember special gifts because they were from very close and dear people. For example, I remember my parents gave me a ring when I was sixteen years old. It was not an expensive ring but it was very valuable for me and when I left my home and moved to another city, I often looked at that ring and felt like my parents were somewhere near me. I felt their support, care, love and understanding. It is like people who are close to us give their small parts of their souls with that gift. They want us to remember them and they want to make us happy. Gifts sometimes remind us the memory of a certain time. For example, if a child gets a toy at an early age and if he sees it when he grows older, it reminds him about the childhood. Besides, special gifts always remind us the caring and love of the person who gave it. These gifts are very valuable for people of all countries and nationalities. Another reason why people remember special gifts because they were exactly what people wanted to have for a long time, but for some reasons, they just could not afford those things or they did not buy them. So, when they receive those things as gifts it makes them very happy and they remember those moments for a long time. When I was a child my mother could not buy me a bicycle because we did not have enough money at that time. So, when my grandfather bought me my first bicycle it was the happiest moment in my life. Moreover, he personally taught me how to ride and I spent all my spare time after that doing cycling.
To sum up, I think that people remember special gifts because they are presented with love, care and come from special people.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use plural reference Original: many people remember the gift Suggested revision: many people remember particular gifts Why it matters: The general claim concerns different memorable gifts, so the plural form is appropriate.
- 2. Remove redundant ending Original: care about etc. Suggested revision: care about. Why it matters: ‘Etc.’ is unnecessary after an already broad category and should not follow ‘about’ here.
- 3. Clarify what is impossible Original: because it is impossible Suggested revision: because remembering every gift is impossible Why it matters: The revision replaces the vague pronoun with the exact activity being described.
- 4. Use reason clause Original: reasons for people to remember Suggested revision: reasons why people remember Why it matters: ‘Reasons why’ correctly introduces the explanation that follows.
- 5. Use natural source verb Original: were Suggested revision: came Why it matters: Gifts ‘come from’ people; ‘were from’ is less natural in this causal statement.
- 6. Use natural phrasing Original: very close and dear people Suggested revision: people who were very close to them Why it matters: The revision expresses the personal relationship clearly and avoids the awkward adjective pairing.
- 7. Add the clause marker Original: I remember my parents gave me Suggested revision: I remember that my parents gave me Why it matters: ‘That’ clearly introduces the remembered event as a finite clause.
- 8. Avoid repeated subject Original: They want us to remember them and they want Suggested revision: They want us to remember them and Why it matters: The shared subject does not need to be repeated in the coordinated clause.
- 9. Correct reminder pattern Original: remind us the memory of Suggested revision: remind us of Why it matters: The verb pattern is ‘remind someone of something’, and ‘the memory’ is redundant.
- 10. Remove repeated condition Original: at an early age and if he sees Suggested revision: at an early age and sees Why it matters: A single ‘if’ can govern both coordinated verbs in the condition.
- 11. Fix pronoun and preposition Original: it reminds him about the childhood Suggested revision: it reminds them of their childhood Why it matters: ‘Remind’ takes ‘of’, and singular ‘they’ provides consistent neutral reference.
- 12. Add required preposition Original: remind us the caring and love Suggested revision: remind us of the care and love Why it matters: ‘Remind someone of’ requires ‘of’, and the noun is ‘care’ rather than ‘caring’ here.
Suggested Rewrites
- many people remember the gift many people remember particular gifts
- care about etc. care about.
- because it is impossible because remembering every gift is impossible
- reasons for people to remember reasons why people remember
- were came
- very close and dear people people who were very close to them
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response answers the question directly and develops its reasons through vivid personal examples of a ring and a bicycle, making the central explanation convincing and memorable. The main limitation is a long, repetitive body paragraph accompanied by frequent awkward phrasing and grammatical slips. The highest-priority improvement is to separate the two reasons into focused paragraphs and edit each for concise, idiomatic expression and sentence control.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response gives clear, relevant reasons for remembering gifts and develops them effectively through detailed personal examples, despite some repetition and broad claims.
Make each reason distinct and conclude its example by explicitly explaining how it causes the gift to remain memorable.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument progresses logically from emotional significance to receiving a long-desired item, but almost all development is compressed into one lengthy body paragraph.
Use one body paragraph for sentimental associations and another for long-desired gifts, removing repeated statements about love and memory.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for emotions, relationships, and memories, though repetition and inaccurate combinations such as 'remind us the memory' reduce precision.
Use natural collocations such as 'evoke a memory', 'remind us of childhood', and 'go cycling', while varying repeated words such as 'special' and 'remember'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a range of subordinate clauses and remains clear, but frequent errors in sentence boundaries, agreement, referencing, and prepositions weaken accuracy.
Edit long sentences into controlled units and check pronoun agreement, relative clauses, and verb-preposition patterns throughout.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people say that people remember special gifts or presents that they receive. Why do you think that is?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.