Simon IELTS General Writing Task 1

.::. Simon .::. IELTS General Writing Task 1 .::.

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IELTS General Writing: another informal letter

Here's a recent question from task 1 of the general writing test:

IELTS General Writing: informal letter

I wrote the following letter with some of my students here in Manchester. It contains some great examples of informal phrases. Can you guess what the full question was?

IELTS General Writing: resignation letter

Here's my full answer for last week's question:

IELTS General Writing: resignation question

I haven't done a lesson about the general writing test for a while, so here's a question that you could try. I'll post my full answer next week.

IELTS General Writing: 'new business' letter

Here's my full letter for last week's question:

IELTS General Writing: 'new business' letter

I haven't done a lesson about the General Writing test for a while, so here's an interesting question that a student sent me. I'll share my answer next week.

Remember that the examiner is looking for the following things:

 The tone must be appropriate (formal or informal)

 The purpose of the letter must be clear

 You must cover all of the points

 The letter must be well-organized

 You need to use some good (and relevant) vocabulary

IELTS General Writing: environment letter

Here's my full letter for last week's question:

IELTS General Writing: environment problem

Here's a recent question from General IELTS writing task 1:

My advice is to choose an easy topic like "litter". Write a quick plan with ideas for each bullet point. If you need some help, have a look at this website.

IELTS General Writing: one tip

Yesterday I forgot to mention my key piece of advice for writing task 1 in the General Training test. If I had to choose one key piece of advice for GT task 1, I'd say that you need to get the 'tone' right.

The tone of your letter is its character or attitude, either formal or informal. For a summary of the differences between formal and informal letters, read this lesson.

IELTS General Writing: verb tenses

Let's look again at the letter I wrote last week. One interesting thing to notice is the variety of verb tenses:

Present simple I take, the overcrowding means, this is...

Present continuous I am writing, passengers are becoming, delays are making...

Present perfect my train has arrived, I have been unable, I have seen...

Future you will address

IELTS General Training: complaint letter

Here's my letter for last week's question:

IELTS General Training: letter of complaint

Let's do a quick plan for the question below.

 Problems: trains arrive late and are overcrowded

 Effects: people arriving late for work, uncomfortable, unhappy

 Changes: more regular trains, more carriages to increase space

Always do a quick plan! The plan above only took me a couple of minutes, and now I'm ready to write a good essay. I'll post it next week.

IELTS General Writing: 'travel problem' letter

Here's my full sample letter for last week's question:

IELTS General Writing: 'travel problem' topic

Before you start writing, quickly note down some ideas for each point:

 Problem: I was given the wrong boarding card.

 Effect: I missed two days of my holiday.

 Request: I would like compensation for the flight and other expenses.