One of your friends recently had a birthday celebration, but you missed it and you forgot to tell your friend that you couldn't attend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - apologise for missing the birthday celebration - explain why you missed it and why you didn't - tell your friend and say what you would like to do to show that you are sorry Dear..................,
Sample Response
Dear Pollock, I'm so sorry that I missed your birthday party and I hope you are not mad at meI hope you are not mad at me. I was so excited to be invited to your birthday partyto have been invited to your birthday and I even had plans for the occasion. But a last-minute emergencythe last moment of emergency compelled me to change my plansplan. I'm sorry that I had not even informed youI even had not informed you. I hope the party was wonderful.I hope you had a grand party on your birthday. I'm so happy to see the fabulous photos on Facebook. I wish I could've been there too. Unfortunately, just before your birthdayBut just before your birthday, I got a call from my hometownI got a call that from my hometown and was terribly shocked by the news that my grandfather had a heart attack. I flew to my hometown without any delay and stayed there for a couple of dayshad been there for a couple of days. Fortunately, my grandfather has recovered and is out of danger now. I will be very busyI would be terribly busy the whole week in my office due to a missed deadline. Hopefully, I will be back to my normal routineat my usual pace within a few days. I would like to meet you at your home and stay for the weekendstay at the weekends. I will bring your birthday present and take you out for dinner to make it up to youI won't forget your birthday present. Warm wishes, Nickol
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter communicates a warm, sincere apology, explains the family emergency clearly, and offers a thoughtful visit and present to make amends. Its main weakness is that it never directly explains why no message was sent, while the single-block structure and several tense or phrasing errors reduce polish. Add a clear sentence about being unable to call or text, then separate the apology, explanation, and proposed visit into short paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly apologises for missing the birthday, explains the family emergency, and proposes a way to make amends. The informal tone suits a friend, though the explanation of why no message was sent is implied rather than fully developed.
Add one direct sentence explaining that the emergency and travel prevented you from calling or texting before the party.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas move logically from apology to reason, update, and proposed visit. Cohesion is mostly natural, but the whole letter is one block and a few transitions are repetitive or abrupt.
Use short paragraphs for the apology, the emergency explanation, and the plan to visit with a present.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is friendly and expressive, with phrases such as “grand party” and “fabulous photos”. Some choices sound unnatural or overly formal for a friend, including “compelled me” and “usual pace”.
Keep the warm informal tone and replace stiff phrases with simpler conversational wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning is clear and there is some variety in sentence structure. Accuracy is reduced by tense errors, awkward word order, and several article or preposition problems.
Proofread verb tense around the past emergency and future plans, especially “had not informed”, “would be”, and “at the weekends”.
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
One of your friends recently had a birthday celebration, but you missed it and you forgot to tell your friend that you couldn't attend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- apologise for missing the birthday celebration
- explain why you missed it and why you didn't
- tell your friend and say what you would like to do to show that you are sorry Dear..................,
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.