Your friend has a travel company and would like you to come and work with him. Write a letter replying to your friend's offer. In your letter: - explain what you know about your friend's company - choose whether you accept or decline the offer - give reasons for your choice
Sample Response
Dear Hans, It was a pleasant surprise to receive your letter last Monday. I knowI must confess I have not been in touch as oftenfrequently as I should have but you have never been out of my thoughtsaway from my thought. I was thrilled to learn that your travel company is growing steadilythriving gradually. I wish you every success in the the days aheadcoming days. It was an honour for me thatIt was an honour that you offered meyou have offered me a position in your company. However, I regret that I must turn downI regret to turn down the offer becauseas I have recently started working in a bank as a junior officer. This is a dream job for me and I am so happy to have been hiredrecruited there. I wish I could have joined your company and workedwork closely with you! Last year, it was a startup companyIt was a startup company last year and it already hasnow it already has a second branch. I am so happy for you and I am sure you will succeedexcel in your business very rapidly. Please giveconvey my best wishes to Maria and your children. Please visit us sometimeWhy don't you visit us sometime and have fun like in the old days? Stay fine and take care. Warm wishes, Friedrich
Why this response received Band 7.0
The reply is warm, coherent, and well suited to a friend, clearly declining the offer and giving a convincing reason while showing knowledge of the company’s growth. Its main limitation is that the company details arrive late and the response is presented as one block, so prioritise moving that information earlier and separating the decision, reasons, and friendly closing into clear paragraphs while refining a few awkward expressions.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The reply acknowledges the company, declines the offer, and gives a believable reason. The informal tone suits a friend.
Mention the company details earlier before the decision.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message is coherent, but paragraph breaks would make the stages of the reply clearer.
Group greeting, company knowledge, decision and reason, and friendly closing separately.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible and mostly natural, with a few awkward collocations.
Use idiomatic phrases such as “thoughts” and “growing steadily”.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Grammar is generally accurate, though there are occasional errors in noun number, tense, and parallel verb forms.
Check plural nouns after possessives and verb forms after modals.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your friend has a travel company and would like you to come and work with him. Write a letter replying to your friend's offer. In your letter:
- explain what you know about your friend's company
- choose whether you accept or decline the offer
- give reasons for your choice
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.