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 Annie, I hope you are doing wellHope you are doing well by the grace of the Almighty. Let me tell you how pleasedhow happy and pleased I am to learnI'm to learn that you will be travelling near my hometownvisiting a place near my hometown on business in a few monthson a business trip within a few months. You'll also be glad to know that I've told my family about how we became such good friends after meetingafter meeting with each other while on holidayon a holiday tour. Anyway, it is exciting to learn about your business trip near my hometown. It would be even nicer if you couldIt would be even nicer if could arrange to stay with memake an arrangement and stay with me for a couple of days before returning homebefore leaving for your home. By the way, I live in a nice and reasonably quiet town, without the hectic pace of a big cityminus the hectic lifestyle of a busy city, and so I think that you would enjoy it here. I have already madeBesides, I already have made plans to visit a few places like a world-class movie theatre, a nice public park with a big lake in it , and, of course, a coupleand of course, a couple of upscale restaurants that serve excellent foodwhere food is just so awesome. So, please let me know what you think about my plan. Can't wait to meet you. Warm wishes, Helen
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter warmly fulfils its social purpose, clearly expressing pleasure, extending an invitation, and suggesting several enjoyable activities in an appropriately friendly tone. Its main limitation is presentation and precision: the response is one dense paragraph, some linking feels mechanical, and a few expressions are awkward. Separate the ideas into natural paragraphs and correct the omitted subject in the invitation sentence.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three requirements are directly covered and developed with a warm invitation and specific plans suited to a friend.
Add a practical detail about accommodation or timing to make the invitation even more helpful and concrete.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message progresses logically, but one continuous paragraph and a sequence of formulaic linkers make the organisation less natural.
Use separate paragraphs for the greeting and reaction, the invitation, and the proposed activities.
Lexical Resource
There is a good range of informal and descriptive vocabulary, though phrases such as "make an arrangement" and "leaving for your home" sound unnatural.
Prefer natural conversational wording such as "arrange to stay" and "before you head home."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The writer uses a variety of complex sentences with generally accurate control, although a missing subject and some awkward word order remain.
Correct the invitation to "it would be even nicer if you could arrange to stay" and check subject inclusion in dependent clauses.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
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.