Last year you met someone on holiday and became friends. He/she has informed you that he/she will be travelling near your hometown on business in a few months’ time. Write a letter to your friend inviting him/her to stay with you. In your letter: - express how pleased you are to hear from him/her - invite him/her to stay with you - tell him/her about your ideas of how you could spend some time together
Sample Response
Dear Mathew, It was a pleasant surprise to receive your letter yesterday. I was even happierThe happiness doubled when I learnt that you will be in Singapore in December with your wife for workfor some professional reasons and plan to stay a little longerhave plans to stay a bit longer to explore the citywander around the city. I am veryquite excited to meet you and your wife and would love you to stay with uscordially welcome you to stay with us for as long as you wishas long as you wish. My memories of our time together in Bali last year are still freshOur memory, together in Bali, Indonesia last year, is still fresh and I am happy to have the chance to meet you in a distant country. How daunting it would have been if someone so kind like you did not find the papers I lost! You were like an angel sent by God to save me from a disaster. The more I learned about you, the more attached I felt to you as a friend. I live in an apartment located in the centre of Singapore city with my wife and have a spare room that you can use during your stay. My wife, Eugene, is equally excited to have you in our city. After you complete your professional works, we will visit some notable places like the Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, Chinatown, Changi Chapel and Museum and enjoy local foods and movies. I am looking forward to having you with us. Have a safe journey. Warm wishes, Adrian
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter is warm, engaging, and fully addresses the invitation by expressing pleasure, offering accommodation, and proposing specific activities in Singapore. Its main limitation is occasional awkward or inaccurate phrasing, particularly the conditional about the lost papers and expressions such as "professional works" and "local foods"; the single-block presentation also obscures the natural stages of the message. Prioritise idiomatic wording and separate the reunion, accommodation, and activity plans into paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully addressed in a warm, appropriate register, with specific accommodation and sightseeing plans supporting the invitation.
Keep the strong task coverage while shortening the extended recollection about the lost papers to maintain sharper focus on the visit.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message develops logically from pleasure and shared memories to accommodation and activities, but its single paragraph makes this progression less visible.
Divide the letter into short paragraphs for the reunion, invitation and accommodation, and plans for spending time together.
Lexical Resource
The letter uses a broad range of warm and descriptive vocabulary, although several phrases such as "professional works" and "local foods" are not idiomatic.
Replace awkward expressions with natural alternatives such as "work commitments," "explore the city," and "local food."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied complex structures are generally well controlled, with a few non-impeding errors in the counterfactual conditional and comparative phrasing.
Revise the lost-papers sentence to "How daunting it would have been if you had not found the papers I lost" and check similar complex forms.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Last year you met someone on holiday and became friends. He/she has informed you that he/she will be travelling near your hometown on business in a few months’ time. Write a letter to your friend inviting him/her to stay with you. In your letter:
- express how pleased you are to hear from him/her
- invite him/her to stay with you
- tell him/her about your ideas of how you could spend some time together
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.