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 Brian, I hope that you are feeling well and trying to make the best ofmake the best out of the worst situation. I have just heard the news about your accident from our team manager over the phone, and I must say that I was quite shocked to hear ithear the sad news. I would certainly like to ask you howask you about how the accident took place, or what exactly you were doing at the time of the accident, but I guess I had betterI guess that I better save the questions for now. Anyway, based on what our team manager told mefrom what I heard from our team manager, I am assuming that your left leg has signs of a fracturesigns of some fractures, but you can’t be sure unless an X-ray of your leg is taken. So, what kind of treatment are you receiving at the hospital now? Are you feeling comfortable there? By the way, you will be glad to know that our whole team has finally receivedgot permission to practise swimming in that big swimming pool in the city centre, where you have always wanted to go. I am sure that we will go there sometime once you haveare recovered. That is all for now. Best wishes, Joseph
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter maintains a warm, supportive tone, directly asks about the hospital treatment, and gives the injured teammate an encouraging future activity to anticipate. Its main limitation is that the cheering-up suggestion is less fully developed than the concern and treatment sections, while several phrases sound slightly unnatural. The priority is to add one immediate supportive action, such as a team visit, and refine the few awkward expressions.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The feelings and treatment questions are clearly developed, and the future swimming plan offers encouragement, though immediate cheering-up support is comparatively limited.
Add a specific current action, such as arranging a team visit, bringing entertainment, or calling regularly during the hospital stay.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message follows a coherent sequence from sympathy to medical questions and positive news, but its one-paragraph presentation reduces clarity.
Separate the concern, treatment questions, and cheering-up plan into short informal-letter paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is flexible and appropriate to friendship, injury, and sport, with a few awkward expressions that do not impede meaning.
Use idiomatic phrases such as “make the best of a bad situation,” “may have fractured your leg,” and “once you have recovered.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied sentence structures are generally accurate, although minor errors occur in modal forms, pronoun reference, and participial constructions.
Write “I had better save the questions,” keep references to Brian rather than shifting to generic “you,” and use “once you have recovered.”
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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.