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ielts-simon.com: IELTS General Writing

ielts-simon.com
Daily Lessons with Simon, ex-IELTS examiner
Saturday , Nov ember 30, 201 3

IELTS General Writing: informal letter

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

Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 0) Sunday , October 27 , 201 3

IELTS General Writing: resignation letter

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

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ielts-simon.com: IELTS General Writing

Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 4) Sunday , October 20, 201 3

IELTS General Writing: resignation question

I hav en't done a lesson about the general writing test for a while, so here's a question that y ou could try . I'll post my full answer nex t week.

Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 5) Sunday , August 1 1 , 201 3

IELTS General Writing: formal phrases

Here are some formal phrases that I'v e used in prev ious lessons. See if y ou can use them in y our own letters: Beginning the letter by ex plaining why y ou are writing: I am writing with regard to... I am writing to inform y ou that... I am writing to bring to y our attention some issues with... Requesting or suggesting something:
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ielts-simon.com: IELTS General Writing

I I I I I

hav e decided that I would like y ou to... am entitled to ask for... was wondering if it would be possible (for me) to... hope that y ou will... would like to suggest that...

Ending the letter with a request for action: I look forward to receiv ing y our response. I await y our prompt response. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 4) Sunday , July 07 , 201 3

IELTS General Writing: 'new business' letter

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

Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 2) Sunday , June 30, 201 3

IELTS General Writing: 'new business' letter

I hav en'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 nex t week.

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ielts-simon.com: IELTS General Writing

Remember that the ex aminer is looking for the following things: The tone must be appropriate (formal or informal) The purpose of the letter must be clear Y ou must cov er all of the points The letter must be well-organised Y ou need to use some good (and relev ant) v ocabulary Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (22) Sunday , March 1 7 , 201 3

IELTS General Writing: some questions

Here are some questions that a student asked me about General Writing task 1 : 1. Should I write the date at the top of a form al letter? No, in the IELTS test y ou should not write the date or y our address. 2. Should I use indentation at the start of a new paragraph? Y ou can either indent or miss a line. Just make sure it's clear that y ou hav e begun a new paragraph. Personally , I think missing a line is clearer. 3. Should I end the letter with "Y ours..." on the left or on the right? Alway s end the letter on the left. Hav e a look at my letters on this page. 4. Should I sign the letter before writing m y nam e? No, don't sign y our name. Y ou don't ev en need to put y our real name. Personally , I use a first name (e.g. John) for informal letters, and a full name (e.g. John Smith) for formal letters. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (4) Sunday , February 1 0, 201 3

IELTS General Writing: environment letter

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

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Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 5) Sunday , February 03, 201 3

IELTS General Writing: environment problem

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

My adv ice is to choose an easy topic like "litter". Write a quick plan with ideas for each bullet point. If y ou need some help, hav e a look at this website. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 5) Sunday , December 02, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: one tip

Y esterday I forgot to mention my key piece of adv ice for writing task 1 in the General Training test. If I had to choose one key piece of adv ice for GT task 1 , I'd say that y ou need to get the 'tone' right. The tone of y our letter is its character or attitude, either formal or informal. For a summary of the differences between formal and informal letters, read this lesson.
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Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (3) Sunday , October 28, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: verb tenses

Let's look again at the letter I wrote last week. One interesting thing to notice is the v ariety of v erb tenses: Present sim ple I take, the ov ercrowding means, this is... Present continuous I am writing, passengers are becoming, delay s are making... Present perfect my train has arriv ed, I hav e been unable, I hav e seen... Future y ou will address Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (4) Sunday , October 21 , 201 2

IELTS General Training: complaint letter

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

Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 1 ) Sunday , October 1 4, 201 2

IELTS General Training: letter of complaint

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

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Problems: trains arriv e late and are ov ercrowded Effects: people arriv ing late for work, uncomfortable, unhappy Changes: more regular trains, more carriages to increase space Alway s do a quick plan! The plan abov e only took me a couple of minutes, and now I'm ready to write a good essay . I'll post it nex t week. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (28) Sunday , September 23, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: 'travel problem' letter

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

Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (7 ) Sunday , September 1 6, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: 'travel problem' topic

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ielts-simon.com: IELTS General Writing

Before y ou start writing, quickly note down some ideas for each point: Problem: I was giv en the wrong boarding card. Effect: I missed two day s of my holiday . Request: I would like compensation for the flight and other ex penses. Don't worry about whether the problem seems realistic or not. Y ou will be judged according to how well y ou ex press ideas, not on the ideas themselv es. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 5) Sunday , August 26, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: some informal phrases

The phrases below make the letter in this lesson a bit more friendly / informal: my place (meaning 'my house') a few things (av oid the word 'thing' in more formal contex ts) pick up the key s (meaning 'collect') pop round (meaning 'v isit') a bit warmer ('bit' is informal, use 'little' if y ou want to sound more formal) worth checking out (meaning 'a good idea to go there') Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (5) Sunday , August 05, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: a friend's visit

Here's my full band 9 letter for the question in this lesson:

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Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 0) Sunday , July 29, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: things to avoid

Here are some mistakes that y ou should av oid in writing task 1 of the GT test: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The beginning and ending of the letter don't match. The main purpose of the letter isn't clear. Y ou didn't cov er all of the points. Y ou wrote too much about one point, and neglected the others. Y ou didn't separate y our paragraphs clearly . Y ou didn't get the 'tone' right (formal or informal). The letter doesn't 'flow' well because ideas are badly organised.

Av oid these mistakes, and y ou are on the way to writing a good letter! Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (7 ) Sunday , July 1 5, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: planning ideas

It's a good idea to write a quick plan before y ou start writing y our letter. Take this question for ex ample:

Here's my quick plan:

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ielts-simon.com: IELTS General Writing

Informal sty le - friend's name can be John. Quick greeting and reason for writing. Neighbour at number 1 0 has key s. V isit any time after 5pm. Instructions about turning the heating off and opening the windows. Good local restaurant and a traditional festiv al in the town during his v isit. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 7 ) Sunday , July 08, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: the opening sentence

After writing "Dear..." it's a good idea to establish the main purpose of the letter straight away in y our opening sentence. Here are some ex amples: 1. Form al letter (e.g. com plaining to a m anager) I am writing to complain about the unacceptable state of the room I was giv en, and the unhelpful attitude of certain members of staff at y our hotel. 2. Sem i-form al letter (e.g. inv iting a neighbour) My wife and I would like to inv ite y ou to a dinner party at our home nex t Saturday ev ening. 3. Inform al letter (e.g. thanking a friend) I hope y ou're well. I'm just writing to say thanks for letting me stay ov er at y our house while I was in London last week. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (2) Sunday , July 01 , 201 2

IELTS General Writing: use the Internet

There are plenty of websites giv ing adv ice to nativ e English speakers about how to write letters. Try a Google search for "how to write letters" or click here to see a website that has some good sample letters. Note: In the IELTS test, y ou should not write an address or date at the top of y our letter. Apart from that, sample letters on websites like the one abov e can teach y ou a lot. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 1 ) Sunday , June 24, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: letter to a tutor

Here's my full band 9 answer to last week's question:

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Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (8) Sunday , June 1 7 , 201 2

IELTS General Writing: letter to a tutor

The following question comes from Cambridge IELTS book 5. Y ou have a full-tim e job and are also doing a part-tim e evening course. Y ou now find that you cannot continue the course. Write a letter to the course tutor. In your letter describe the situation explain why you cannot continue at this tim e say what action you would like to take There are three main things to consider before writing y our essay : 1. T one (form al or inform al) Sometimes students are friendly with their tutors, but I think it would be better to write a formal letter. Start with y our tutors surname (e.g. Dear Mr. Smith,) and end with Y ours sincerely ,. Av oid contractions (write I am instead of Im), and av oid using informal idioms or ex pressions. Be polite rather than friendly . 2. Purpose The main purpose of this letter is to inform y our tutor that y ou are leav ing the course. Make this clear straight away (e.g. I am writing to inform y ou that...). Then cov er the three points, writing a short paragraph for each. 3. Ideas I recommend spending a few minutes planning ideas for each of the task points before y ou start writing. Y ou need to decide what the ev ening course is about, what y our full-time job is, a reason why y ou are too busy with work to continue with the course, and whether y ou want to leav e completely or perhaps continue at a later date. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (9)

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Sunday , June 1 0, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: semi-formal?

IELTS books and teachers sometimes talk about formal, semi-formal, and informal letters. But a student asked me an interesting question recently : Can we m ake things easier by forgetting about "sem i-form al"? Actually , I think the answer is y es! When writing to a colleague or neighbour, y ou can write in a friendly , informal way using the informal features mentioned in this lesson. I can't really think of any reason why we need the "semi-formal" category for IELTS writing purposes. Y our letter will be either formal or friendly ! Note: Feel free to disagree with me if y ou can find a reason why we need the semi-formal category . May be I'v e missed something. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (5) Sunday , June 03, 201 2

IELTS General Writing: how to start and end letters

It's important to start and end letters in the correct way , depending on who y ou are writing to. The table below should giv e y ou all y ou need.

Note: Y ou should follow the rules for formal letters, but there are many way s to end an informal letter. The main thing is to av oid mix ing formal and informal. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (8) Sunday , May 27 , 201 2

IELTS General Training: informal and formal

For my first two General Training lessons I wrote ex amples of an informal and a formal letter. Today I want to highlight some of the differences between them. Inform al letter: Beginning: Dear + first name Friendly greeting: I hope this letter finds y ou well. Contractions: I'm, didn't, couldn't, there's... Questions: Do y ou remember...? Why don't y ou...? Ex clamation: ...earlier than I thought it was! Linking: Well, Any way , so, and Phrases: had a great time, couldn't hav e asked for, working flat out, back to normal Ending: Hope to see y ou soon + first name Form al letter: Beginning: Dear Sir or Madam No greeting necessary No contractions: I am, did not...
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ielts-simon.com: IELTS General Writing

Normally av oid direct questions: "I would like" instead of "Can I hav e?" No ex clamation marks (!) Linking: Howev er, Consequently , and, also Phrases and v ocabulary : with regard to, appliance, it was installed, the following day , failed to (meaning "didn't"), procedure, he assured me, report the issue, contacted, under warranty , I am entitled to, replacement, phone me personally Ending: I await y our prompt response, Y ours faithfully + full name Note: Both letters also contain 'neutral' v ocabulary that can be used in any ty pe of letter. For ex ample, I didn't highlight words like 'hosts', 'deadline' or 'assignment' because they could be used in both formal and informal contex ts. Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 6) Sunday , May 20, 201 2

IELTS General Training: formal letter

Today I'm attaching a model answer for a 'formal letter' question. Click here to download It would be a good idea to print last week's informal letter and compare it with today 's formal letter. In particular, compare the 'tone' and the v ocabulary . Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 5) Sunday , May 1 3, 201 2

IELTS General Training: informal letter

For my first lesson about IELTS General Training task 1 , I'm attaching a model answer with an analy sis task. The analy sis task encourages y ou to look at the letter through the ey es of an ex aminer. Click here to download A few key things to remember: The 'tone' of the letter must be appropriate (i.e. formal or informal). The purpose of the letter must be clear. Y ou must cov er all of the points. Write an equal amount for each. The letter must be well-organised, with logically connected ideas. Try to use some good v ocabulary , and try not to make too many mistakes! Posted by Simon in IELTS General Writing | Permalink | Comments (1 7 )

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