WR IELTS

Below are sample letters (formal and semi formal). Analyses will be provided in the comment section.
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You have a spare flat (apartment) in your house. Write a letter to the accommodation officer in a nearby university. In your letter,

- Describe the location of the flat

- Describe the rooms

- State the kind of person you want to live in the apartment

A suggested answer*

Dear Sir or Madam,

I kindly wish to notify you of a two-bedroom flat I have for rent situated at the estate. It is the first building in Kings Avenue, just opposite the gift shop. In addition, the location is just about five-minute's drive to the east gate of the college, and a stone's throw to the West End train station.

The apartment, which is on the third floor, has 100 and 144 square feet bedrooms and sitting room respectively, with a balcony overlooking the lake. Also, each room has its wardrobe, spacious bathroom with bathtub. New occupant(s) will enjoy natural ventilation and morning sunlights from the two large windows of the rooms.

I would like to let it out to a married staff member of the university with less than 3 children. Alternatively, I may consider two postgraduate students who are ready to share the rooms. Special consideration would be given to international students from Africa or Asia.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully,
Jane Kong.

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A young person is starting work in your office in a month's time. Write him a letter. In your letter,

Describe what you do at the office.

Explain what the person will do on the first day.

Tell the person the requirements needed for work...

Dear Mr John,

I am writing you in anticipation of your assumption of office as a graduate trainee in the next 30 days.

I am the head of human resource department - the unit responsible for recruitment of new staff and manpower development. It is my duty to implement HR policies and strategies as well as coordinate employees-related matters such as welfare and promotion within the organisation. As a policy, we put our employees first and I must ensure that such culture is maintained.

Since you will be reporting directly to me, kindly ensure that all the requested medical documents are submitted on your commencement date. You will also need to go to the ICT department for your biometrics for the production of an ID card and security pass. Thereafter, you will attend an hour induction programme.

As stated in the job vacancy and emphasized during the interview, we expect you to be an excellent team player. Also, for the next 3 years, traveling to other states will be part of your assignment; and we appreciate someone who is willing to do that even at a short notice.

I believe we made a good choice hiring you as we look forward to you seeing you soon.

Sincerely,
Fidelis Guns.

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You forgot some important papers accidentally in a taxi.

Write a letter to the manager of the taxi company. In your letter:

Give the details of your journey

Explain why those papers are important for you

Suggest what can the manager do

Suggested answer

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing you in connection with certain documents I left in your cab. I used your taxi service on the 27th of March (that is, yesterday) for a 100 km journey from Lekki Phase 1 Lagos to Ogun State capital, Abeokuta. The trip (reference number 436) lasted for about 180 minutes and the taxi driver was Mr John Mark.

It is extremely vital I have those papers because I will be using them for a presentation here in Abeokuta. As a matter of fact, they contain my company's 2020 first-quarter sales report which I am to present to the board on Friday. Not having a soft copy on my personal laptop computer heightens my desperation to gain possession of those papers.

Could you kindly use Mr John to bring the documents to my hotel on or before Thursday? Alternatively, you could have the 20-page documents scanned and send a copy to my email ([email protected]). Please, be assured that all costs involved in sending the documents will be borne by me.

I am looking forward to receiving these materials.

Yours faithfully,
Ekhorelen Fidelis

GT Task 1

From your basic education, you might have been taught the three types of letter: Formal, Informal, and Semi-formal. Your school teacher was right about this. 😁😁😁

However, there are some adjustments you need in your writing to meet the standard of IELTS in each type of letter.

Formal letter: This is a letter written to those you have or desire to have official/professional relationship with and do not know their names (or maybe you are not expected to know their names). This latter part is very important.

Begin with:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Dear Sir/Madam,

Conclude with:
Yours faithfully,
Jane Joy.

Take note:
*The tone should be official.
*No contractions, such as can’t, haven’t, I’m etc.
*There is a difference between 'Dear Sir' and 'Dear sir', 'Yours faithfully' and 'Yours Faithfully' or 'Your's faithfully.'

You see, every part of English language is govern by rules. You show your mastery by observing these rules even to the minutest detail.

Can you identify why some are correct and other are wrong?
Dear Sir or Madam, ✅
Dear Sir or madam, ❌
dear Sir or Madam, ❌
Dear Sir or Ma, ❌ (Ma is informal)

Yours faithfully,
Jane Joy ✅

Your's Faithfully, ❌❌❌

Semi-formal letter: This is a letter written to those we have business relationship with and know their names (or expected to know their names)

*Begin with:
Dear Miss Mary,
or
Dear Mr John,

* The tone should be business-like.

*Conclude with:
Yours sincerely,
Jane Joy.
or

Kind regards,
Jane Joy.
or

Regards,
Jane Joy.

*Take note that the following are acceptable:

Dear Mr. John,

Dear Mr John,

Dear Miss Jane,

Dear Ms Jane,

Dear Mrs Jane,

Dear Mrs. Jane

Informal letter: This is a letter written to those we have close and friendly relationship with and know their names. (FnF)

* Informal styles reflect everyday speech patterns and may include contractions and colloquial expressions.

* Begin with

Dear Mary,
Dear John,

* The tone should be friendly and a bit casual.
*You may use some less formal language, but an informal tone does not include slang like wanna or
gonna, or SMS language like "c u later"
* Use contractions, such as 'can’t', 'haven’t', 'I’m'

Conclude with

Best wishes,
Jane.

or
Lots of love,
Jane.

or

Love,
Jane.

Master the description of the three types of letter. Don't write an informal letter and conclude with 'Regards' or 'Yours sincerely'. There is only one way to write those ☝ correctly. If you are careless about them, IELTS might be happy to see you write again and again and again and....!😳🙈🙈

Anything short of the above description will not be accepted. Master and follow them faithfully.

A teaser:

Suppose you faced this question below, how would your address the recipients?

Last month you had a holiday overseas where you stayed with some friends. They have
just sent you some photos of your holiday.
Write a letter to your friends. In your letter
• thank them for the photos and for the holiday
• explain why you didn’t write earlier
• invite them to come and stay with you.

Comment:

It is improbable that this kind of question will appear on your test day. However, improbable doesn't mean impossible - after all, the above question was taken from the Cambridge series.

This is an advice from the MOD training material:

If the instructions say Begin your letter as follows: Dear..., write a name, for example Dear John. Do not used
professions or relationships instead of names, for example, Dear Manager, Dear Teacher, or Dear Friend,

So, it is wrong to use Dear Friends in this case

Since you are to write to more than a friend, two would be okay as in:

Dear John and Mary,
or
Dear Helen and Paul,

I am not sure you will ever be asked to write a semi-formal letter to more than an individual, whereby you need to pluralise Mr, or Mrs.

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GT Task 1

Overview:

The IELTS General Training writing test is 60 minutes long. It has Task 1 and Task 2. In the Task 1, candidates are asked to respond to a situation, by writing a letter, for example, requesting information or explaining a situation. Your response should be at least150 words long.

What is General Training Writing Task 1?

In GT Task 1 you need to write a letter responding to a given problem or situation. The letter may be formal, semi-formal or informal, but it is in a standard format. You may be asked to request information, make a suggestions, express opinions or make complaints. The situations are common, so that anyone can complete them.

You should do this in at least 150 words and in about 20 minutes.

The question for this task will have three sections:

Task background: From here, you will be able to see the purpose of the letter and who your reader is.

Task requirements: These will help you develop your ideas.

Task instructions: These are the overall instructions for your task.

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