On a recent holiday, you lost a valuable item. Fortunately, you have travel insurance to cover the cost of anything lost. Write a letter to the manager of your insurance company. In your letter: - Describe the item you lost. - Explain how you lost it? - Tell the insurance company what you would like them to do?
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am Ankitha, a software engineer from Chennaihailing from Chennai. I have taken out a travel insurance policysubscribed to a travel insurance package with your firm and have been paying the premiums for two yearshave been paying for two years. I am writing this letterepistle to make a claim under my insurance policyclaim the insurance for a valuable itema great product that was lost during my vacation.
Firstly, the lost itemproduct is my new mobile phone, manufactured by Apple, costing around 750 eurosEuros. It has fascinating features such as a dual camera, 512 GB of memory, face recognition, and the latest software versionan advanced software version. Although the colour of the gadget is blue, the shade of the back case is green with the scenery of waterfalls.
Furthermore, I visited Kashmir along with my travel companionsmy companions last week. We decided to participate in some adventurearduous activities such as bungee jumping, trekking, and river rafting. In Pahalgam Valleythe Pahalgam valley, we opted for river rafting. When the ride commenced, I started to take photos and videosclick snaps and videos of the spectacular views. Unfortunately, I lost my balance, fell into the river and my phone was swept away by the currentmy mobile was flown away in the water.
Additionally, it is incredibly challenging to managesurvive without my phone, and I have to purchase another one as soon as possibleas the earliest. Therefore, I humbly request reimbursement of the same amountrequest to insure the same money by transferring it to my bank account as soon as possible.
Thank you for your consideration.
Yours faithfully,
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fulfils its purpose effectively by identifying the phone, explaining the river-rafting incident in detail, and making a clear reimbursement request in an appropriately formal tone. The main weakness is a pattern of unnatural or inaccurate word combinations, which sometimes distracts from otherwise clear communication. The highest priority is to use more precise, idiomatic language when describing the loss and stating the desired insurance settlement.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are clearly addressed with relevant detail, and the request and formal purpose remain clear throughout.
Make the claim more complete by referring explicitly to the policy and offering supporting documents such as the receipt or claim form.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is logically sequenced in focused paragraphs, although the paragraph-opening linkers are somewhat formulaic.
Use fewer routine sequencing words and let the natural chronology of the incident guide the progression.
Lexical Resource
The response shows good range for describing the phone and incident, but several collocations are inaccurate or overly elaborate.
Use natural claim language such as make a claim, was swept away, buy a replacement, and reimburse the cost.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A variety of complex structures is used with generally good control, while a few passive and prepositional constructions are inaccurate.
Review verb patterns and passive forms, particularly in phrases about the phone being carried away and requesting reimbursement.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
On a recent holiday, you lost a valuable item. Fortunately, you have travel insurance to cover the cost of anything lost. Write a letter to the manager of your insurance company. In your letter:
- Describe the item you lost.
- Explain how you lost it?
- Tell the insurance company what you would like them to do?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.