Informal Letter Suggesting a Holiday Destination
A complete IELTS General Training Writing Task 1 question with a model answer of 239 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 20 minutes. Write at least 150 words.
You and your brother or sister are planning to take a holiday together later this year. You have a destination in mind that you think would be perfect. Write a letter to your sibling. In your letter: - suggest the destination and say why you have chosen it - describe what you could both do there - explain what arrangements you would like them to help with Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear ...,
How to approach it
- 01Use a warm, informal opening and sign-off ('Dear Priya', 'Lots of love')
- 02Contractions are fine here — 'I have' or 'I've' both work
- 03Cover all three bullet points clearly, ideally one per paragraph
- 04Use natural conversational phrasing: 'how do you feel about', 'if you are up for it'
- 05Mention specific places and activities, not generic ones
- 06End by suggesting a next step and a soft deadline
Model answer
239 words in 7 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
Dear Priya,
I have finally had a proper think about where we should go this autumn, and I am pretty convinced I have found the right spot. How do you feel about ten days in Lisbon and the Algarve?
The reason I keep coming back to Portugal is that it ticks every one of our boxes. The weather should still be warm in October without being unbearable, food is fantastic and surprisingly cheap, and the flights from home are direct and under three hours. You have been saying for years that you want a holiday with both city life and a proper beach, and Lisbon plus a short train ride to Lagos gives us both in one trip.
While we are there, we could spend the first four days wandering the old neighbourhoods of Alfama and Belem, doing a couple of museum visits, and eating our weight in pasteis de nata. After that I thought we could head south, hire bikes along the coast, take a boat trip to the Benagil caves and try a surf lesson — finally!
If you are up for it, would you mind looking into flights and a couple of guesthouses near the beach? I can sort out the Lisbon Airbnb, the train tickets and a rough day-by-day plan once we know our dates.
Let me know what you think, ideally by next Sunday so we can book before prices climb.
Lots of love, Sam
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 31 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
15 more than the median answer for this task type
4 words at the shortest, 34 at the longest
3 more than the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 21.7 words and vary by 8.7 words either side of that, running from 4 words to 34. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 5 of the 11 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
5 in total, spread across 2 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
while
finally, next, once
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 80 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 69 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 2 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Achievement
Cover all three bullets with a clear, friendly tone
Coherence & Cohesion
Logical paragraphing and natural connecting phrases
Lexical Resource
Range of informal vocabulary appropriate to family writing
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Mix of simple and complex structures with high accuracy
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