You have recently gone to live in a new city. You want to let an English-speaking friend who lives in another country know about it. Write a letter to your English-speaking friend. In your letter: - explain why you have gone to live in the new city - describe the place - where you are living - invite your friend to come and see you
Sample Response
Dear Siera, I hope all is wellHope all is well with youat your end. I haven’t heard from you in a while, and I think that it's time for some exciting news from meupdates from my end. In fact, I've moved to a new city which is much better suited to me thanway better than my previous cityplace. The new city is not as big as the previous one, but it's not as crowded as my old city either. Besides, it's a clean city, and it has lots of greenerygreeneries around. ButBut, the best thing about the new city is that I now liveactually get to live in a small and inexpensive apartment, which is very close to a beautiful lake. Anyway, the main reasonmain reason, for which, I have moved to a new city is that I grew tired of livinggot bored of living in the old city. Besides, the living expenses inof the old city were risingskyrocketing every month as with every other big city. Another reasonAnother reason, for which, I moved to a new city is thatbecause it is actually closer to where my parents currently live. I'm sure you would like my new place, so come and visit me sometime! Warm wishes, Hamid
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter covers every required point with relevant detail and uses a warm, suitably informal voice, especially when describing the quieter city and lakeside apartment. Clear communication is weakened by the single-block presentation, repetitive connectors, and recurring awkward phrasing or punctuation around relative clauses. Organise the update into short functional paragraphs and revise expressions such as ‘lots of greeneries’ and ‘another reason, for which’ for naturalness.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The reasons for moving, the city, the apartment, and the invitation are all covered clearly with specific detail and an appropriate friendly tone.
Make the invitation even more purposeful by suggesting a possible time or activity for the visit.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information moves logically from the personal update to description, reasons, and invitation, but one-block paragraphing and repeated connectors reduce control.
Divide the letter into short paragraphs for the update, new surroundings, reasons for moving, and invitation.
Lexical Resource
The letter uses a sufficient range of informal and descriptive vocabulary, but choices such as ‘greeneries’, ‘from my end’, and ‘living expenses were skyrocketing every month’ are awkward or imprecise.
Choose simpler idiomatic combinations, such as ‘plenty of greenery’ and ‘the cost of living kept rising’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Simple and complex forms are mixed successfully enough for clear communication, although intrusive commas and redundant relative-clause patterns recur.
Remove commas around ‘for which’ and avoid constructions such as ‘the reason is because’.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently gone to live in a new city. You want to let an English-speaking friend who lives in another country know about it. Write a letter to your English-speaking friend. In your letter:
- explain why you have gone to live in the new city
- describe the place
- where you are living
- invite your friend to come and see you
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.