A friend has asked you to babysit on Saturday and wants to know how much you charge per hour. You already have a commitment this weekend, but you are free the following weekend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - explain why you cannot help this weekend - say that you could help the following weekend - explain what your fee is
Sample Response
Dear Elena, I hope you are doing wellHope you are doing great and I am excited to read about all your recent news. I have received your message askingyour message, asking me to babysit your daughterhelp you babysit your little daughter thison coming Saturday. I really appreciate thatappreciate the fact that you thought of mehave actually cared to think of me as a suitable babysittera suitable babysitter to look after your little daughter, but I regret to inform you that despite my best intentionsintention, I won’t be able to help you this coming weekend. In fact, I have already made plans for this coming weekendthis coming weekend, I have already made plans to visit one of my younger cousins in another city because she is celebrating her 21st birthdayis going to celebrate her 21st birthday. By the way, my cousin is a rather sensitive persona bit emotional person, and cancelling my plans to visit herthe programme to visit her would certainly make her upset. ThereforeSo, again, I am really sorry that I won’t be able to help you out this coming weekend, but please rest assured that I will be able to help you the following weekendI would be able to help you out the following weekend. By the way, I charge hourly, and the hourly rate is 200 Russian roubles200 Rouble (Russian). Please don't worryBut, please trust me, the feethe rate of charge wouldn’t be an issue when I babysit your daughter. Warm wishes, Anna Irina
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter covers all three practical points with a considerate tone, giving a specific reason for being unavailable, offering the following weekend, and stating an hourly fee. Its main weakness is excessive repetition and slightly awkward formality for a friend, while the final comment makes the fee sound less definite; prioritise concise paragraphs, a direct price statement, and more natural informal phrasing.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All bullet points are clearly addressed and relevantly developed, though the comment that the fee “wouldn’t be an issue” slightly weakens the clarity of the stated rate.
State directly whether the fee is 200 roubles per hour or whether the friend can treat it as flexible.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message follows a logical sequence, but one long paragraph, repeated references to “this coming weekend,” and two uses of “By the way” make it less efficient.
Use short paragraphs for the refusal, alternative weekend, and fee, while removing repeated time references.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the situation, but expressions such as “cared to think of me,” “emotional person,” and “rate of charge” sound unnatural.
Prefer natural phrases such as “thought of me,” “quite sensitive,” and “my hourly rate.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses several complex structures successfully, although article, number, preposition, and conditional-form errors recur.
Revise phrases such as “this coming Saturday,” “a rather emotional person,” “200 roubles,” and “I could help.”
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A friend has asked you to babysit on Saturday and wants to know how much you charge per hour. You already have a commitment this weekend, but you are free the following weekend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- explain why you cannot help this weekend
- say that you could help the following weekend
- explain what your fee is
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.