A friend of yours invited you to a home party he/she arranged. However, you have just missed this party. Now you want to apologise for not attending it. Write a letter to your friend to apologise. In your letter: - apologise to your friend - explain why you did not attend the party - say what you plan to do to make up for missing the party
Sample Response
Dear Graham,
Hope all is well at your end. Before anything elseBut, before anything else, please let me apologise to you because I couldn’t attend the party, which you organised about a week ago, despite my best efforts and intentionsintention.
The reason I missed your party is thatAnd the reason, for which I missed your party, is that I needed to travel out of town the day before I was supposed to attend your party because I needed to spend some time with my youngest unclespend some time in the company of my youngest uncle. By the way, this uncle of mine, who lives and works abroad, had arrivedthis uncle of mine, living and working abroad, has arrived in the country very recently andrather unexpectedly on a short trip, and he had requested me to accompany him as well as do some choreschoirs before he left townbefore he departed the town. I thought that I still could make it to your party However, things became too hecticbut things got a bit too hectic for meon my end as I was trying to help my uncle with his travel and choreschoirs.
But, of course, I'm free now. So, how about going camping and fishing this coming weekend, together? I'm sure it is going to beI'm sure, it is going to be just as fun as before.
Best regards,
Mike
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter has a clear, friendly purpose: it apologises, explains the unexpected family obligation, and proposes an enjoyable way to reconnect. The main limitation is that the reason is much longer than necessary, with overloaded sentences and several inaccurate or awkward word choices that weaken fluency. Condense the explanation, acknowledge the effort your friend made for the party, and proofread wording and punctuation.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter apologises, explains the unexpected uncle visit, and suggests camping and fishing to make up for missing the party. The purpose is clear, but the reason is overexplained and the make-up plan could be more directly connected to the friend's missed event.
Give a shorter reason and add one sentence acknowledging the friend's effort in arranging the party.
Coherence and Cohesion
Paragraphing is present and the sequence is logical, but some sentences are overloaded with subordinate clauses and repeated phrasing.
Break the long explanation paragraph into shorter sentences and avoid repeated 'the reason' wording.
Lexical Resource
The friendly vocabulary is mostly appropriate, but several word choices are inaccurate or unnatural, especially 'choirs' for 'chores'.
Replace inaccurate words and use simpler personal language for the apology.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
There are noticeable punctuation, preposition, and clause-control errors, though meaning remains clear.
Remove unnecessary commas and proofread long sentences for subject-verb links and correct nouns.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A friend of yours invited you to a home party he/she arranged. However, you have just missed this party. Now you want to apologise for not attending it. Write a letter to your friend to apologise. In your letter:
- apologise to your friend
- explain why you did not attend the party
- say what you plan to do to make up for missing the party
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.