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Task 1 General · Informal letter · Travel

Inviting a friend who moved abroad to visit

An informal letter where the band 6.5 answer's problem is the opposite of the usual one — it is far too stiff for the person it is addressed to.

The question

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Sam,

A friend of yours moved abroad last year. You would like them to come and stay with you. Write a letter to your friend Sam.

  • Explain why you would like them to visit now
  • Describe what you have planned for their stay
  • Say what you would like them to do about arrangements

A 150-word letter in a formal, semi-formal or personal register. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.

What separates the three answers

Register runs the wrong way here: the band 6.5 letter is too formal for a close friend, and the improvement across the bands is a steady loosening rather than a tightening.

The three answers

Band 6.5

176 words (the task asks for at least 150)

The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.

The answer

Dear Sam,

I am writing this letter to invite you to come and stay with me in the summer. It has been a long time since we met last time4 and I would be very happy to see you again.

The main reason is that my sister is getting married in July and I think it would be a great occasion for you to meet all our old friends. Many people from our class are coming and they are always asking about you. Also the weather is very nice in this period, so we can spend a lot of time outside.

Regarding the plans, I have arranged that we can go to the lake house1 for a weekend, and I would also like to take you to the new music festival in the park. My mother is insisting to cook for you as well.3

Please inform me as soon as possible about your dates so that I can book the tickets for the festival. Please let me know your flight details also.

Yours sincerely, T. Ibrahim2

What an examiner notices

  1. 1. Lexical resource

    “Regarding the plans, I have arranged that we can go to the lake house”

    'Regarding' is business-letter vocabulary. In a letter to a close friend it is as jarring as slang would be in a formal complaint.

  2. 2. Lexical resource

    “Yours sincerely, T. Ibrahim”

    Correct after a named formal greeting, but wrong here. A letter beginning 'Dear Sam' closes with something like 'Love' or 'See you soon'.

  3. 3. Task achievement

    “My mother is insisting to cook for you as well.”

    The most personal detail in the letter, given one clause. The plans bullet is a chance to show warmth and it is treated as a list to be completed.

  4. 4. Grammatical range and accuracy

    “It has been a long time since we met last time”

    'Last time' duplicates the meaning already carried by 'since we met'. A small redundancy of exactly the kind that recurs at this band.

One honest caveat

Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.

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