You are due to start a new job next week but you will not be able to because you have some problems. Write a letter to your new employer. In your letter: - explain your situation - describe your problems - tell him/her when you think you can start
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to joinopportunity to be a part of your organisation. I was offered the Junior Executive position within your organisation and was supposed to start workstart my office on 2nd April 2025. However, a problem has arisen and it forces me to delay my joining for a month than initially planned. As you know, I currently work for my father's gift shop, and you will remember from my interview that I have gained valuable experience from my involvement in this business. Unfortunately, my father has been admitted to hospital because of an illnessadmitted to a hospital for his illness, leaving me in charge of both our household and the businessboth the home and the business. SinceAs this is a particularly busy time for the shop, I needI am forced to run ittake charge of running the shop. I understandI can understand that it would be inconvenient for you, butfor you but I hope that you will considerI am hoping that you would consider the circumstances and allow me to take up my position with your company on 1 May 2025one month later than the date we initially agreed upon. I would like to emphasise that I remain very keen to join your companyvery keen to work for your company and willwould be ready to join on 1 May 2025from 1st May 2025. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, Brian Hall
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully explains the delayed start, gives a convincing reason, and proposes a precise new date in a consistently respectful tone. The main limitation is presentation as one continuous block, alongside a few awkward expressions about beginning work and delaying the start. The highest-priority improvement is to divide the message into purposeful paragraphs and replace those unnatural collocations with concise professional wording.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The communicative purpose is achieved fully through a clear explanation, well-developed circumstances, a specific revised start date, and an appropriate formal tone.
Make the request even more direct by explicitly asking the employer to confirm acceptance of the revised start date.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a clear and logical sequence with effective linking, although the entire letter is presented as a single body block.
Use separate paragraphs for the delay, the family and business circumstances, and the proposed solution.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible and suitably formal, but expressions such as start my office and delay my joining are noticeably unnatural.
Replace awkward employment collocations with natural alternatives such as start work and postpone my start date.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response demonstrates varied complex structures with good overall control, despite a few errors in comparison and phrasing.
Correct comparative constructions, for example changing for a month than initially planned to by one month from the original date.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are due to start a new job next week but you will not be able to because you have some problems. Write a letter to your new employer. In your letter:
- explain your situation
- describe your problems
- tell him/her when you think you can start
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.