You have joined a program that connects people with pen friends in another country, and you have just received your first letter from your pen friend. In the letter your pen friend has given you a lot of information about his/her country and has asked many questions about yours. Write a letter to your pen friend. In your letter, describe: your everyday life the typical food eaten in your country the weather in your country. Write at least 150 words. You do not need to write any addresses.
Sample Essay with Corrections
Expert Feedback
1. Key strengths of the essay include a clear structure and a friendly tone that is appropriate for a letter to a pen friend. The writer addresses the prompt by discussing daily life, food, and weather, which are relevant topics. 2. Critical areas for improvement include grammatical accuracy, particularly with verb forms and subject-verb agreement. Additionally, the letter could benefit from more cohesive devices to improve the flow between paragraphs and ideas. 3. Structural changes made include correcting grammatical errors, enhancing coherence with better transitions, and ensuring proper subject-verb agreement. The introduction and body paragraphs were maintained, but minor adjustments were made for clarity and correctness. 4. Suggestions for further improvements not implemented in the corrected version include providing more specific examples of daily activities and food, as well as varying vocabulary to avoid repetition. The writer could also elaborate on their experiences or feelings related to the topics discussed. 5. The tone used is appropriate for a friendly letter, maintaining a conversational style that invites further communication.
Detailed Scores
What this means:
The letter has a logical structure and flows reasonably well, but there are some abrupt transitions and a lack of cohesive devices. For instance, the shift from discussing food to weather could be smoother. Using more linking words and phrases would enhance the overall coherence of the letter.
How to improve:
- Use a clear paragraph structure
- Connect ideas with appropriate linking words
- Maintain logical progression
- Use referencing effectively
What this means:
The letter contains several grammatical errors, such as incorrect verb forms ('I happy' should be 'I am happy') and issues with subject-verb agreement ('my typical day starts with wake up' should be 'waking up'). While the meaning is generally clear, these errors detract from the overall quality. To improve, the writer should focus on sentence structure and verb forms.
How to improve:
- Use complex sentence structures
- Maintain grammatical accuracy
- Use a variety of sentence patterns
- Check for common grammar errors
What this means:
The vocabulary used is generally appropriate, but there are instances of repetition (e.g., 'food' and 'country') and some inaccuracies (e.g., 'depend on the day' should be 'depending on the day'). To improve, the writer could incorporate a wider range of vocabulary and avoid repetition by using synonyms.
How to improve:
- Use a wider range of vocabulary
- Demonstrate awareness of collocations
- Avoid word repetition
- Use more sophisticated vocabulary accurately
What this means:
The letter addresses the prompt by discussing everyday life, typical food, and weather in the writer's country. However, it lacks depth in some areas, such as providing more specific examples or details about the food and daily activities. To improve, the writer could elaborate on their daily routine or describe a specific dish in more detail.
How to improve:
- Address all parts of the task fully
- Support ideas with specific examples
- Develop each point thoroughly
- Stay relevant to the topic
Related Writing Samples
Your ID card has been stolen. Write to the Local Police Station, giving details of: - who you are - what happened - ask what you should do to get a new ID card
The graphs below show the cinema attendance in Australia and the average cinema visits by different age groups from 1996 to 2000. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons.
A large company in your area has decided to spend a certain amount of money, either to sponsor a local children's sports team for two years or to pay for two open air concerts. It has asked for feedback from the general public. Write a letter to the company. In your letter: Describe the benefits of sponsoring the sports team. Summarise the benefits of paying for the concerts. Say how you think the company should spend the money.
In recent years, many small local shops have closed because customers travel to large shopping centres or malls to do their shopping. Is this a positive or negative development?
You and your teenage daughter visited the local library last weekend to find books for her school project. After searching for some time, you realized that the library did not have any books on the subject. This is not the first time that the library did not have something you need. Write a letter to the library manager: Describe what you were trying to find Explain why you needed the book and how you tried to find it Suggest what the library can do to help you find the information you need
Last month you had a holiday overseas where you stayed with some friends. They have just sent you some photos of your holiday. Write a letter to your friends. In your letter: thank them for the photos and for the holiday explain why you didn't write earlier invite them to come and stay with you