You play sport (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 Guri,
How are you? I got depressed on hearing the news of your sudden accident and how in the nick of time, you’d been hospitalized.
Since then, I’ve heard that you’re in a serioussevere condition; I pray for your quick recovery every day. You’ve always done your best to bring success tobring laurels for our football team and now thatwhen our team really needs you for the competitionneeds you in a competition, unfortunately, this mishappening happened with you, and I regret it. However, try to keep your spirits upit would be best if you were not downcast.
To help cheer you upFurthermore, You could readI would like you to read some comic books to pass the timeto entertain yourself. If it is not possible to read, then listen to the commentary on the live matchlisten to commentary of live match that our team is going to play ingoing to take part in. You’ll be enthralled to know that it’s going to be played tomorrowheld the next day. So, when you listen, I’ll be motivating that you’re with us. ThisThis thing will also inspire you and help you healhelp you in healing your wounds. Besides, my younger brother will come to meet you every day, and I think he will cheer you up tooamuse you more.
I hope to see you soonHoping to see you soon!
With love,Yours Loving,
Why this response received Band 6.0
The letter has a clear supportive purpose and develops several practical ways to cheer the teammate up, with an appropriately friendly tone. Its main limitation is that it never actually asks about the hospital treatment, leaving one required bullet point unfulfilled, while several awkward expressions reduce naturalness. The highest priority is to cover that missing request directly and then revise collocations and sentence structures for clearer, more idiomatic communication.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly expresses concern and develops several cheering-up suggestions, but it does not ask about the teammate's hospital treatment.
Add a direct, caring question about the treatment, its progress, or the expected recovery period.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically from concern to encouragement and practical suggestions, although some linking and referencing are mechanical or unclear.
Use simpler transitions and ensure that references such as "this thing" point clearly to a specific idea.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient vocabulary to convey sympathy and encouragement, but several collocations sound unnatural or imprecise.
Replace expressions such as "mishappening happened" and "motivating that" with natural, context-appropriate wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the message, though recurring errors and awkward constructions reduce control.
Prioritise accurate clause structure and prepositions, especially in the longer sentences about the match and recovery.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You play sport (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.