A high school friend who moved to another country will visit your country for a month. You have arranged a party for him/her. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - give the date and location of the party - say who is coming to the party - mention things your friend has missed while living in another country
Sample Response
Dear Kyle,
I'm so glad to hear that you're coming to visit us after such a long time. Of course, I know that you like your new, adopted“adopted” country, but I think that you would still be interested in knowinginterested to know what you've missed sinceafter leaving our country.
Well, our only football stadium in the city has been expandedhas been made bigger to accommodate more spectators. Besides, Eric, who we all used to make fun of as a “political geek”, has started his new political career as a city council member.
Now comes the most excitingmost fun and exciting part of this letter. In fact, we are planning to throw a welcome“welcome” party to make your visit a special and memorable one. It's not only going to be attended by most of our high school and college friends but also by some of our favourite high school teachers who helped ushad helped us become better students.
By the way, the party will be held on the 4th of July, and the venue is the Memorial Hotelthe venue is “Memorial Hotel” on Traverse Street, right across townright across the town. So, I hope to see you therehope to see you there!
Best wishes,
Justine
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter fully covers the party arrangements, guests, and recent changes at home while sustaining a warm, natural voice for a close friend. Its organisation is particularly effective, moving smoothly from missed developments to the celebration details; the only notable weakness is a small amount of awkward wording, especially around the location. Use a more idiomatic location phrase and add one personal detail about the reunion to make the message even more vivid.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully addressed with a clear date and venue, specific attendees, two missed developments, and a consistently suitable informal tone.
Add one personal detail about what the group hopes to do together so the welcome feels even more specifically tailored to Kyle.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter is well organised, and the progression from recent news to the guest list and practical arrangements is smooth and easy to follow.
Keep the party date and venue together, but consider introducing them before the guest list to foreground the essential invitation details immediately.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible and natural for an informal letter, with precise choices such as ‘accommodate more spectators’ and ‘political career’.
Replace the slightly awkward ‘right across the town’ with a more idiomatic location phrase such as ‘on the other side of town’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of sentence forms, including relative clauses and correlative coordination, is used accurately with only very minor lapses.
For maximum grammatical completeness, supply the subject in the closing sentence: ‘So, I hope to see you there!’
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A high school friend who moved to another country will visit your country for a month. You have arranged a party for him/her. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- give the date and location of the party
- say who is coming to the party
- mention things your friend has missed while living in another country
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.