By English Test Coach · Updated
General Training Task 1 · Purpose, detail and appropriate tone
A formal letter needs more than a polite greeting. Make the purpose clear, develop every task point and tell the recipient what response would help. Specific, courteous language usually does more work than a memorised opening.
The official IELTS General Training format requires a letter of at least 150 words; its style depends on the situation. The plans, extracts and linked answers below are original teaching material, not official or examiner-scored responses.
You left an important item on a train. Write a letter to the railway company's lost-property office. Describe the item, explain when and where you lost it, and state how the office can return it to you.
You are addressing an office at a railway company, without a personal relationship with its staff. A formal approach fits. The immediate purpose is to locate and recover your property. The question does not say the company lost it, so turning this into an angry complaint would introduce a different situation.
“I am writing with regard to a matter of great importance.”
The recipient still does not know whether you want information, a booking or help with an item.
“I am writing to report a laptop bag that I left on the 17:42 train from Ashford Central to Brookton on 18 September.”
The reader can identify the item and service immediately. These are fictional details for this practice situation.
Compare this purpose with the damaged-order question: there, a complaint and request for a remedy fit the stated problem. Both letters can be formal, but they should not use the same opening or requested action.
“A bag” is a category, not an identifying description. The original sample gives a dark-blue canvas shoulder bag, an orange zip strap and distinctive contents. Select details that help separate it from similar items.
You do not need a lengthy inventory. One recognisable feature and a few relevant contents can develop the point clearly. Use fictional identifiers in your practice writing.
A date, departure time, route and likely location on the train give staff a place to start. The sample places the bag on the overhead rack in the second carriage and explains that the writer noticed the loss after arriving home.
“Please help me” does not explain the return arrangement. The sample offers collection from Brookton station on weekdays after 4 p.m., with delivery as an alternative if collection is unavailable.
Asking the office to confirm whether it has the bag is a useful first step. It should lead to an actual return option, because the task explicitly asks how the office can return the item.
Keep the route, date, station and collection time consistent across the letter. Do not first say you can collect the item and later say you cannot travel, unless you explain the change.
Coverage means developing the task, not repeating its wording. “I will describe the item and explain where I lost it” announces a plan but supplies none of the information requested.
This example puts journey information before the item description even though the question lists the description first. The reader can still find all three points. Bullet order is a useful planning aid; the finished letter needs connected paragraphs that make the situation easy to follow.
“If you locate the bag, please let me know whether I can collect it from Brookton station after 4 p.m. on a weekday. If collection is unavailable, I would be grateful for information about arranging delivery and its cost.”
The condition avoids assuming the bag has already been found. The second sentence gives a fallback without demanding two separate returns. Read the full original lost-property letter and annotations to follow the complete sequence.
For an unnamed recipient, “Dear Sir or Madam” with “Yours faithfully” is a conventional pairing. For a named formal recipient, a suitable title and surname with “Yours sincerely” can fit. Follow any greeting supplied in the task, and keep the body consistent with the relationship. A conventional sign-off cannot compensate for an undeveloped bullet point.
“You must sort this out immediately because the bag is extremely important.”
This is forceful but vague. The office needs to know which service to check and how to contact or return the item.
“Could you check the items collected from that service and let me know whether any match this description?”
The request is courteous and concrete. Add a return option elsewhere to complete the task.
“I would be grateful if you could confirm…” introduces a clear request. “I humbly beseech your esteemed organisation…” distracts from it. Choose ordinary precise language, and avoid switching from a businesslike opening to slang or text-message abbreviations.
In the damaged-order example, asking for an undamaged replacement addresses the problem. “Could you arrange a replacement and explain how I should return the damaged item?” gives the company two related actions. It does not need insults or an unrelated demand for compensation. Compare the complete complaint sample with the lost-property request.
For a short exercise, rewrite “Send it back quickly” as a polite request with a location and realistic time. Then check whether the recipient could act on it. Use the purpose-and-tone lesson for further practice.
You have seen an advertisement for a weekend visitor assistant at a local history museum. Write a letter to the museum manager. Explain why you are interested in the role, describe relevant experience, and give details of your availability.
The manager needs to understand your interest, relevant experience and availability. A polite request for more information about the job would leave the first two points largely unanswered. Apply directly, then develop the requested details in connected paragraphs.
“I am a perfect candidate because I am hardworking and good with people.”
The description could fit almost any application. It supplies no example of what the writer has done or how that experience would help visitors.
“At a community arts centre, I welcome groups, check their bookings and answer questions about events and facilities. These responsibilities have given me practice in explaining information clearly while keeping track of practical details.”
The actions support the claimed skills. A following sentence can connect them to assisting museum visitors, without claiming that the two jobs are identical.
In this fictional practice situation, choose plausible details that answer the task. You do not need a long career history, a list of impressive qualifications or an invented reference to an attached CV. The letter itself should contain the relevant explanation.
The full sample says the writer currently volunteers on Saturdays. It then explains that this commitment ends before the proposed start date. That prevents a conflict with the weekend hours offered to the museum. Interview times are listed separately; being free on Wednesday afternoon would not, by itself, establish availability for a weekend job.
Try revising this pair of statements: “I volunteer every Saturday afternoon until the end of November. I can start working all day every Saturday at your museum from 1 November.”
“My Saturday volunteering commitment continues until the end of November, so I would be available for full Saturday shifts from the first weekend in December. Before then, I could work on Sundays if that would be useful.”
The revision gives a clear boundary and an optional earlier arrangement. The manager still needs to confirm whether it fits the role. Do not silently remove a commitment after using it as evidence of your experience.
The relationship is similar across these tasks, but the purpose changes. Read the exact instruction before borrowing a phrase or a paragraph plan.
You have seen an advertisement for a weekend visitor assistant at a local history museum. Write a letter to the museum manager. Explain why you are interested in the role, describe relevant experience, and give details of your availability.
Focus: Support your suitability with relevant actions and keep working hours, interview times and existing commitments consistent.
You recently ordered an item online, but it arrived damaged. Write a letter to the company. Describe the item, explain the damage, and state what you would like the company to do.
Focus: Describe the item and damage before requesting a specific remedy, such as a replacement and return instructions.
You are organising a community event and would like a local business to support it. Write a letter explaining the event, describing the support you need, and explaining how the business would benefit.
Focus: Describe the event, specify the support needed and explain a credible benefit for the business you are approaching.
A delivery company has repeatedly delivered important packages late. Write a letter to its manager. Describe the deliveries, explain the problems the delays caused, and state what action you expect.
Focus: Explain repeated delays and their consequences, then request a change that addresses that recurring problem.
You would like to hire a public hall for a local club. Write a letter to the venue manager. Explain the purpose of the event, describe the facilities you need, and ask about availability and cost.
Focus: Explain the event and required facilities, and ask both about availability and cost; one price question alone leaves part of the task unanswered.
You left an important item on a train. Write a letter to the railway company's lost-property office. Describe the item, explain when and where you lost it, and state how the office can return it to you.
Focus: Identify the item and journey, then give a practical way to return it. Asking for help does not require accusing the railway of causing the loss.
Compare this checklist with the worked letter assessment example. If the task addresses a manager or friend, use the General Training guide’s semi-formal and informal examples to reconsider the relationship instead of applying a formal template automatically.
Plan the three task points, then draft at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. Public AI assessment is paused; the free workspace still provides the planner, timer and word count without an account. The rule-based demo is not an AI score.