IELTS Simon

IELTS General Writing: good vocabulary

Here are some useful phrases from my most recent 'General Training Task 1' sample answer (the complaint letter):

• bring something to someone's attention
• a significant error
• the mistake relates to
• it is stated that... when in fact it is...
• something is due to happen
• sorely disappointed (very disappointed)
• an outing (a trip or day out)
• this could lead to complaints
• bad publicity
• rectify this problem
• it is vital that
• give accurate information
• I trust you will act quickly

IELTS General Writing: formal complaint letter

Here's my sample answer for the task shown in this lesson:

IELTS General Writing: formal letter mistakes

Here are some sentences that people wrote in the comments area below last Saturday's lesson. Can you find and correct the mistakes?

1. I wanted to say you some informations is not correct.
2. The festival holds on the 24th of December every year.
3. I ask you to correct this article and be reposted for your next magazine.
4. At on onset, I would thanks to you that you published a article.
5. I suggest you employ staff from all over the world. Because native well know about their country.

IELTS General Writing: formal letter task

I haven't done a lesson about General Writing task 1 for a while, so here's a task from Cambridge IELTS 14:

Tip: Choose something very simple for this task. For example, you could say that the magazine gave the wrong dates for a special festival. It would be easy to explain how this mistake could affect tourists, accommodation, the success of the festival etc.

IELTS General Writing Task 1: 'private teacher' letter

Here's my band 9 sample answer for the task that you can see in this lesson:

IELTS General Writing Task 1: beginning and ending

Let's write a beginning and ending for the task that I showed you last Sunday:

..........

Beginning (greeting + purpose of the letter):

Dear Mr. Smith,

I am writing to ask whether you are available to help my son with some after-school Spanish lessons.

..........

Ending:

I hope to hear from you soon, and that you will be able to help.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Jones

..........

Note:
Keep the beginning and ending short, clear and simple. You can impress the examiner in your main paragraphs; we'll look at those tomorrow.

IELTS General Writing Task 1: 'private teacher' topic

Let's use the 7 steps in yesterday's lesson to prepare the task below.

1. Key things to highlight: son needs extra language lessons, explain why, ask about experience and methods, suggest schedule
2. Choose the tone: assume we don't know the teacher = formal
3. Greeting: e.g. Dear Mr. Smith (assume we know the teacher's name)
   Ending: Yours sincerely, (then invent a name)
4. Overall purpose: ask the teacher to help your son
5. Paragraph structure: single sentence to state the purpose, then one paragraph for each bullet point
6. Paragraph aims: explain, request, suggest
7. Ideas: Your son has missed a term of Spanish lessons due to illness; looking for an experienced teacher who knows the school exams; son is available for private lessons at home any weekday after school

IELTS General Writing Task 1: steps

Here are 7 steps that I recommend taking before you write your task 1 letter. We'll follow these steps when we look at an example question tomorrow.

IELTS General Writing: letter of complaint

Here's my band 9 sample answer for the task in last Sunday's lesson:

IELTS General Writing: letter of complaint

Next weekend I'll show you my sample answer for the letter writing task below. Thanks to rüknettin for suggesting this one.

IELTS General Writing: task 1 suggestions

Someone reminded me the other day that I haven't looked at a General IELTS writing task 1 question for a while.

If you're doing the General IELTS test, please use the comments area below this post to suggest a task 1 topic for us to look at. Is there a task / topic that you're struggling with?

IELTS General Writing: 'party suggestions' topic

A student asked me for help with the following General IELTS Writing task 1 topic. Can you think of any ideas?

IELTS General Writing: 'job reference' answer

Here's my band 9 model answer for the 'job reference' task in last Sunday's lesson:

Notes:
- We could also begin this letter with "To whom it may concern".
- We don't really need to include the job title "Director, Sheffield English Academy", but I've included it to make the letter seem a little more realistic.
- Notice that I chose to write about a job that is familiar to me (English teacher). I imagined writing a reference for a real ex-colleague of mine, and I simply changed a few names.
- There are some good words, collocations and phrases in the letter. Note them down and try to use them yourself.

IELTS General Writing: 'job reference' letter

I haven't looked at a General Training task 1 question for a while, so here's one that we could try:

How do you think we should begin this letter? What job could we choose? What qualifications, skills and personal qualities can we describe?

Tip: Imagine that you are writing this letter to recommend a real colleague or friend. Think about that person's qualities and invent a job that might suit him/her.

IELTS Grammar: verb tenses in general writing

Have another look at the letter that I shared last Sunday (even if you're not doing the General test), and you'll see that I used a variety of verb tenses.

Can you name the verb tenses in the phrases below?

1. I'm just writing to offer you
2. I won't be able to use
3. I told you I was going to a gig
4. there's a guitarist who's playing this Saturday
5. you'll be blown away
6. the concert starts at 7pm
7. I've been asked to visit a client
8. if you're free on Saturday
9. he'll be going to the gig

General IELTS Writing: good vocabulary

Did you notice the following phrases in the letter that I shared last Sunday? This is useful vocabulary even if you're not doing the General IELTS test.

• going to a gig
• an up-and-coming singer
• you'll be blown away by how good he is
• there's a support act on
• catch the main performance
• to help with a product launch
• arrange to meet beforehand
• outside the venue on the night
• I hope you can make it

Note: in the phrases above, gig, blown away, catch and make it are informal. Do you know the meaning of these words / phrases?

General IELTS Writing: 'concert ticket' answer

Here's my band 9 answer for the question that I showed you last Saturday. Can you find any good vocabulary in my answer?

General IELTS Writing: 'concert ticket' topic

We haven't looked at a General Writing Task 1 question for a while, so here's one for us to work on. If you're doing the General test, give it a try.

IELTS General Writing Task 1: 'translation' answer

Here's my answer for the general writing task in this lesson:

IELTS General Writing: task 2 plan

Last week I suggested that you plan some ideas for the question below.

Some people prefer renting than buying a home. What are the advantages and disadvantages of renting your home?

Here's a 13-sentence essay plan using the ideas that people shared:

Introduction
1. Introduce the topic (e.g. It is true that many people rent...)
2. State that there are benefits and drawbacks

Advantages
3. Topic sentence (e.g. There are several advantages...)
4. Firstly: easy, flexible and fast
5. Example: students and workers who move to new cities
6. Secondly: no maintenance costs
7. Finally: cheaper, no mortgage deposit

Disadvantages
8. Topic sentence (e.g. On the other hand, there are also...)
9. Main drawback: not a long term investment
10. Another drawback: landlord sets rules
11. Example: not allowed to renovate or redecorate
12. Furthermore: prices can suddenly go up

Conclusion
13. Repeat / summarise

IELTS General Writing Task 1: 'translation' question

If you're doing the General IELTS test, here's another task 1 question that you could use for practice.

IELTS General Writing: a task 2 example

Let's have a look at a writing task 2 question from a recent 'General' test:

Some people prefer renting than buying a home. What are the advantages and disadvantages of renting your home?

The question above might seem a little different from the task 2 questions that I normally use here on the blog. However, my advice is exactly the same as usual:

- Spend up to 10 minutes planning your essay structure and ideas.
- Write 4 paragraphs, containing a total of 13 sentences.

Maybe you can help me plan some ideas for this question by suggesting some advantages and disadvantages of renting.

IELTS General Writing: new video

I forgot to mention last week that I had published another video lesson for General IELTS writing task 1. The video is at the bottom of this web page.

IELTS General Writing: new video (free)

If you're preparing for the General IELTS test, you can now watch my latest video for writing task 1 here.

In this lesson I explain that you can forget about "semi-formal" letters. You just need to know when to write a formal letter and when to write an informal letter.

IELTS General Writing: new video

I have just published a video about informal letters at the bottom of this website. If you've been waiting for this lesson, I'm really sorry about the delay. Thanks for your patience!

IELTS General Writing: informal letters

Later today I'll publish a video lesson about writing informal letters. Here's the question that you'll see me answer in the lesson.

Update: I'm really sorry that I still haven't published this video lesson. I should have time to finally finish it on Wednesday 7th December.

IELTS General Writing: new video lesson

I've just published my second video lesson for General Writing task 1. You can find it at the bottom of this website.

In the lesson, I write a formal letter at band 9 level, and I talk about the use of "less common" vocabulary, as well as the use of some typical phrases to begin and end formal letters. I'm afraid this lesson isn't a free one.

IELTS General Writing: formal or informal?

Tomorrow I'll share a video lesson about formal letters for General Writing Task 1. If you're doing the General test, think about the question below.

Would you write a formal or informal letter to the following people?

1. a hotel manager
2. your boss
3. the local council
4. your child's teacher
5. a friend
6. a work colleague
7. a neighbour

IELTS General Writing: task 1 video (free)

I've just published my first video lesson for General Writing Task 1. You can watch it for free here.

In the lesson, I explain the seven steps that you should follow when writing your letter. I also answer some questions that people asked me about the letter task.

IELTS General Writing: task 1 videos

I was planning to publish a video lesson for General Writing task 1 today, but I haven't managed to finish it on time. I'll publish it later this week.

Before I finish the lesson, you have the opportunity to ask me any questions about GT task 1 (the letter writing task) in the 'comments' below. Let me know if there's anything that you are particularly worried about and would like me to include in the video.

IELTS General Writing: 'purpose' sentence

When writing a GT task 1 letter, I normally begin with a sentence to introduce the purpose of the letter.

A student asked me for help with the "purpose" sentence for the question below:

Although the overall purpose of the letter isn't stated in the question, I think we can still write a good purpose sentence. Here's an example:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to give you some feedback after the party that my company recently held at your hotel.