One of your friends recently had a birthday celebration, but you missed it and you forgot to tell your friend that you couldn’t attend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - Apologise for missing the birthday celebration - Explain why you missed it and why you didn’t - tell your friend And say what you would like to do to show that are sorry.
Sample Response
Dear LiamDear Liam Carter,
I'm truly sorry for missing your birthday celebration, and I want to apologize sincerelywholeheartedly for not being there to share your special dayshare that special moment with you.
The reason I was unable to attend your birthday celebration was due to an unforeseen work commitment that arose at the last minute. As you know, my job often demands long hours and unexpected deadlines, and unfortunately, this particular projectevent required my immediate attention. The project was critical and needed me there to finish it successfullyrequired my presence to ensure its successful completion. Regrettably, the demanding nature of my work prevented me from being able to attend your celebration as planned and notifying you in a timely manner.
To make up for my absence and show how sorry I amdemonstrate my remorse, I would like to suggest a belated birthday celebration for youpropose a belated birthday celebration in your honor. I would be delighted to take you out for a memorable dinner at a restaurant of your choice. It would be my way of expressing my apologies and showing you how much your friendship means to me. We can have a good chata heartfelt conversation, reminisce about past birthdays, and create new memories together. I genuinely hope that this gesture will convey my deep regret for missing your special day.
With deepest apologies and warmest regards,
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response’s strongest aspect is its thorough fulfilment of the apology, explanation, and proposed amends, supported by clear organisation and strong grammatical control. Its main limitation is an excessively formal, repetitive style for a letter to a friend, which makes expressions such as “demonstrate my remorse” sound distant. The highest-priority improvement is to replace formal business-like language with concise, natural wording that conveys genuine friendship.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All required points are clearly addressed and developed, but the highly formal register is not consistently suitable for writing to a friend.
Use a warmer informal tone and shorten the explanation so the apology feels more personal and direct.
Coherence and Cohesion
The three-part progression is easy to follow, though repeated references to the celebration, work, and regret make the response somewhat overextended.
Remove repeated explanations and let each paragraph advance one distinct part of the message more concisely.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is broad and precise overall, but choices such as “demonstrate my remorse” and “convey my deep regret” are overly formal for the relationship.
Prefer natural friendly phrases such as “make it up to you” and reserve formal apology language for professional contexts.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a wide range of complex structures with strong accuracy, despite one awkward parallel construction around attending and notifying.
Maintain parallel verb forms in coordinated phrases, for example by pairing “attending” with “letting you know.”
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
One of your friends recently had a birthday celebration, but you missed it and you forgot to tell your friend that you couldn’t attend. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- Apologise for missing the birthday celebration
- Explain why you missed it and why you didn’t
- tell your friend And say what you would like to do to show that are sorry.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.