[SEP – DEC 2021] IELTS General Writing Task 1 Actual Tests With Answers: Informal Letters (Part 1)

Informal Letter 1

Your friend is moving to a new house and wants your help. Write a letter to your friend.

In your letter, you should:

• say why you are free
• how you can help
• ask questions about the new house.

Sample Answer

Dear Mary,

I hope you are doing well. It’s been a while since we last met. I heard through Rosemary that you are moving to a new apartment near the city centre this coming week, so I am writing this letter to offer my assistance in the shifting process.

The coming week, I have a company holiday, so Rosemary, Martha and I decided to help you with your packing and shifting process. Since I moved to my new apartment last year, I’m aware of the difficulties involved in relocation. We will arrive at our place on Saturday morning. Don’t worry about the food. We will bring some freshly prepared meals. Martha has also offered to come with her car to assist with the delivery of the things. Even though I am sure you hired a truck, moving the goods will be a lot faster with more help.

Furthermore, I am really interested in learning about the house’s description and location. Please share the location of your new home with me so that I may become acquainted with it. Please let me know if anything is missing and that you would like us to cover. It’s something I’m looking forward to.

See you soon, Catherine.

 

Informal Letter 2

Write a letter to your friend in another country where you would like to visit for the holidays.

In your letter, you should:

• explain your travel plans
• describe the interesting places you plan to visit
• ask for suggestions for sightseeing options.

Sample Answer

Dear Malika,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. I haven’t heard from you in a long time. I can imagine your excitement in reading this letter. The semester is soon going to get over and my college year-end break is fast approaching. So, I intend to spend it with you in your country.

I would like to come to your county because it’s been almost more than 3 years since we last met. Besides that, I would like to explore all the intriguing locations of London. I want to get familiar with British culture and explore all the interesting places. I have heard about London’s pleasant weather, and its beautiful ancient architecture so much that I really want to visit and see it myself.

The prospect of spending time with you after such a long period excites me. Now that you’re familiar with the area, I’d really appreciate it if you could give me some recommendations for famous tourist sites in London as well as some lesser-known locations that I might visit. I am eagerly waiting to meet you and discuss lots of things. Please give my regards to your parents.

I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Warm Wishes
Yamini

 

Informal Letter 3

You are going for a one-week vacation and your friend agreed to stay at your place while you are away. Write a letter to him/her and say:

• Thank her/him for this and include the dates of your holiday.
• How can he/she enter the house?
• What do you expect him/her to do?

Sample Answer

Dear Zen,

Thank you so much for volunteering to watch over my place while I’m away. I’m writing to remind you of the list of items you’ll be looking after at my house during my vacation, from 14th June to 24th June.

For your convenience, I have stowed all of the required materials in the house. I have also written down all the chores that you have to do. My fish requires feeding twice a day, in the morning and evening. Also, I would appreciate it if you water my plants. The indoor plants only need to be watered once in 2 days, and balcony plants require daily watering. Please monitor mail deliveries on a daily basis and keep the light of the drawing-room on at night.

I will provide the alternative keyset to your mother a day before leaving for the vacation. If you need to contact me for any reason while I’m on vacation in Bali, please text or call me on my cell phone number. I wrote the phone number on a sticky note and stuck it to the fridge magnet. I appreciate your assistance once again and hope to return this favour sometime.

Warm Regards,
Karan

 

Informal Letter 4

You stayed at a friend’s house while he/she was away and there was a problem with a kitchen appliance. Write a letter to your friend and include the following:

• how you liked staying at his/her house
• what the problem with the kitchen appliance was
• explain what you did to solve the problem.

Sample Answer

Dear Parth,

I hope you are doing well. I’m writing to let you know that one of your kitchen equipment was malfunctioning while I was staying at your place. So, I requested that the service person to come and inspect the appliance.

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude for a wonderful time spent at your home. I felt quite at ease with all of the amenities and the stuff you had previously stocked for me. However, I ran into an issue with your blending machine. When you were away on vacation, I tried to prepare a smoothie using it. But the blades were clogged and did not operate properly. So, I tried to fix it.

Also, I requested a service technician come to the house and repair the appliance. He did come to the house the day before you returned. The blender was repaired, and the technician replaced the blades. As a result, please double-check the appliance, and the agent may return to see if the device is still functional.

Warm Regards
Samarth

 

Informal Letter 5

You recently went on a holiday tour for a week. Your friend lent you a guide book. Write a letter to thank your friend. In your letter

• Tell your friend about the holiday
• Explain how the guidebook was helpful
• Tell him/her when and how you will return the guide book.

Sample Answer

Dear Tina,

I hope everything is going well for you. I’m delighted to share my holiday experience in Italy with you. Thanks to the trip information you supplied with me, I had a fantastic time.

I must say that Italy is far more captivating than it looks in its photographs. We explored so many places. We went to Cinque Terre hiking, toured the city through the Grand Canal, saw an opera performance at Verona’s Roman Arena, and many more. Your handbook was really helpful in planning the entire trip. It even assisted me in locating sites, such as local eateries.

I know that you want to share this guidebook with your coworkers. I intended to meet you personally and return the guide to you, but I have not been keeping well for the past few days. I will courier it to you by the end of this week, though. Thanks again for lending me this book, and I hope to meet you in person and share more wonderful experiences with you.

With Love

Preeti

 

Informal Letter 6

One of your friends lives in another country. You want to spend some time working in that country. Write a letter to your friend.

In your letter, you should:

• describe why you want to work in that country
• tell him/her about your skills and experience
• ask some questions related to work (e.g. wage/salary)

Sample Answer

Dear Daniel,

I hope you’re doing well and all is fine in Waldorf. It’s been quite a long time since I wrote to you, but I admit that I have been busy.

I’m writing this letter to inform you that I’ve got a permanent job opportunity with a client in Waldorf. You already know that I’ve been doing several contractual jobs in India, and I never got a full-time opportunity within India. I had been hesitating to move out and continued searching here but unfortunately, I couldn’t find a job to my liking. So, I decided to grab this opportunity.

I think you already know that I’ve got a good amount of experience in SAP ABAP module and have worked on a considerable number of projects here. So, I guess it will all be easy for me in Waldorf.

Since you have been there for five years, I would like to know about the salary packages in the area and the workplace culture. It will be helpful for me to negotiate my salary with HR.

I’m waiting eagerly for your reply.

Warm Regards,

Sam

 

Informal Letter 7

There is a public event coming up in your town. Write a letter to your friend who you think would be interested to take part in it.

In your letter, you should:

• describe the event
• explain why you think he/she would be interested in it
• suggest an arrangement to meet there with him/her.

Sample Answer

Dear Emily,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. I can imagine your excitement in reading this letter. Yes, I’m inviting you to my place, Assam, this April. I know it is the end of your college’s second semester, and you would be wondering how to spend the holidays. Don’t think anymore. Just get on a flight and come down to Assam.

In April, there is a festival called Baishagu. It is celebrated by the tribe called ‘Boro Kacharis’ of Assam. It is celebrated at the onset of springtime to welcome mother nature. Many traditional instruments such as Khawbang, Jotha, Gogona, Siphung, Kham will be played. At the end of this Baishagu Festival of Assam, a community prayer called “Garjasali” will be held where all Assamese will get together in a common place. As you are interested in exploring different cultures, I’m sure that this event will be a great entertainment and learning experience for you.

I’ve made arrangements for you to stay at my home. I’ll pick you up at the airport. Convey my regards to your parents.

With lots of love,

Jane

 

Informal Letter 8

You recently stayed at your friend’s place, to look after the house while he/she is away. You accidentally damaged something in his/her house. Write a letter to your friend.

In your letter, you should:

• describe what the accident was
• explain when it happened
• suggest how the damage can be fixed.

Sample Answer

Dear Jane,

I hope you are fine. I’m writing to you about the damage caused to your wind chime hanging in the balcony.

While I was house sitting for you last weekend, my son accidentally broke the wind chime hanging in your balcony. My son and I were at your house and since he was crying endlessly as it was a new place, I brought him to the balcony. The breeze blew and he was fascinated by the sound produced by the wind chime. Once the breeze stopped, he began to cry again. To pacify him, I taught him how to gently touch the chime but he was annoyed that the sound had stopped and yanked it. It fell on the floor and broke into pieces.

I have brought it back with me to replace it in the shop that you bought it from. If the damage is beyond repair, I would replace it with a new wind chime. I’m extremely sorry for the damage.

Sincere apologies, again.

With love,

Sarah

 

Informal Letter 9

You recently spent a weekend with your friend in her/his new house. Write a letter to your friend.

In your letter, you should:

• explain what you like about his new house
• tell what you enjoyed most during your staying
• suggest when and where you could meet next time with her/him.

Sample Answer

Dear Charlotte,

I hope you are doing well. I’m writing this letter to thank you for inviting me to your newly constructed penthouse.

I was amazed at the way you had decorated your house. The Salvador Dali paintings were terrific. The sweet fragrance from your homemade potpourris still stays fresh in my memory. And, not to forget, the number of dishes you served for dinner. I relished it.

The unforgettable part of your house was the garden which you created on your own. You had a range of plant species from Cacti, the African daisy, hibiscus, hyacinth to herbs like Basil and Mint, which I can never forget. I’m not sure if you remember, it suddenly started to rain heavily as we walked in the garden. So, we headed inside and watched the rain from the window sipping a hot cup of tea. It was an unforgettable experience.

I would want to give you back some warmth and love as well. Please do visit my place in Perth, whenever you get time. Christmas could be an excellent time for you to come here.

See you soon,

Anne

 

Informal Letter 10

Write a letter to your friend about missing the date with him on a day you had planned. Tell him how you tried to contact him but it did not work out either.

In your letter, you should tell:

• what the reason is
• how you tried to contact him
• give an alternative plan to meet him sometime.

Sample Answer

Dear Smith,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. I sincerely apologise for not being able to meet you last Friday at Abbey Park as we had planned. I could not make it to the meeting because of the phone call I received from the HR of ABC company. It was for a job interview, which was scheduled on Saturday but preponed due to the interviewer’s unavailability on Saturday.

I did try to reach out to you. Infact, I made a WhatsApp call, but you did not pick up the phone. Also, I was running low on charge, so I could not make another call.

But no worries. My interview went on well, and I succeeded in getting a job. We can meet again, and I would want you to fix the date and time. I will ensure that I do not miss it this time.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Warm Regards,

Issac