You play sports (e.g. football) for a local team. You recently heard that a player in your team is in a hospital. Write a letter to your teammate. In your letter: - say how you feel about the news - ask about the treatment in the hospital - suggest some ways of cheering him/her up
Sample Response
Dear Ahmed, How are you now? I was shocked to hear that you fell downoff the stairs all of a sudden and injured your foothave had an injury to your foot. I am very sorryI am feeling very sorry for your condition as it happened right before an important match on Sunday. I wish you a quick recovery. I heard from our coach that you are under observation by a team of doctors at Jinnah Hospitalhospital. One of my relatives works there as a medical practitioner and I will askrequest him to visit you sometime. Do not worry at all as the hospital has an excellent reputation foran exceptional reputation due to its well-trained staff and modern equipment. However, I would like to know your personal opinion about the way the hospital staff are treating you. Is there anything you want us to do for you? I want to share some exciting news with you. You have been selected forin the national football team as thea lead striker. In addition to this, our university has announced a full-fee scholarship in recognition of your sporting achievementsto acknowledge your efforts in sports. I wish you good health and will visit you soon. Warm wishes, Fahad
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter responds warmly and personally, covers the teammate’s condition and hospital treatment, and offers several thoughtful ways to encourage him, including a visit and positive news. Its main limitation is that a few collocations and grammatical choices sound unnatural despite the consistently clear message. The priority is to preserve the friendly detail while refining phrases about injury, treatment, team selection, and recovery into more idiomatic English.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are developed with relevant personal detail, and the supportive informal tone is well suited to a teammate.
Make the cheering-up suggestions slightly more actionable by proposing a specific visit or team activity during recovery.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas move naturally from concern to treatment, offers of help, encouraging news, and a closing wish, though the single-block presentation reduces clarity.
Divide the letter into short paragraphs corresponding to the news, hospital treatment, and ways to cheer the teammate up.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is varied and appropriate for sympathy, medical care, and sport, but several collocations are not fully natural.
Prefer phrases such as “injured your foot,” “sorry to hear about your condition,” “selected for the national team,” and “make a speedy recovery.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied and generally controlled structures, with a few non-impeding errors in tense, articles, capitalization, and prepositions.
Review tense sequencing around the accident and use accurate forms such as “Jinnah Hospital” and “selected for the national football team.”
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You play sports (e.g. football) for a local team. You recently heard that a player in your team is in a hospital. Write a letter to your teammate. In your letter:
- say how you feel about the news
- ask about the treatment in the hospital
- suggest some ways of cheering him/her up
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.