Letter to a Magazine About an Influential Book

A magazine wants to include contributions from its readers for an article called ‘The book that influenced me most’.

Write a letter to the editor of the magazine about the book that influenced you most. In your letter • describe what this book was about • explain how this book influenced you • say whether this book would be likely to influence other people

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows: Dear Sir or Madam,

From essays on this question

Letter points: Letter to a Magazine About an Influential Book

WhyThis is aFormal letter — it asks you to cover every bullet point in a formal tone.

SoWe group the points under each bullet point of the task.

Describe what this book was about

7 points

Explain how this book influenced you

12 points

Say whether this book would be likely to influence other people

9 points

Same question · Different responses

Sample responses and feedback

Response 01

Must fixSuggested

Answer · 168 words · 5 paragraphs · 4 comments

Score details

Response 01
Estimated band7.0/ 9

Overall assessment

The letter is well-organised, addresses all three bullet points, and uses a suitably formal yet engaged tone with relevant detail. Its main limitation is the slightly thin description of the book's content and a few awkward phrasings that reduce precision.

TA

Task Achievement

The letter covers all three bullet points with a clear purpose and appropriate tone, though the description of the book's content is brief and the opening does not follow the required 'Dear Sir or Madam' format.

7.0
CC

Coherence and Cohesion

Ideas progress logically across well-linked paragraphs with effective use of cohesive devices such as 'Moreover' and 'as it deals with', giving the letter a clear and fluent flow.

7.5
LR

Lexical Resource

Vocabulary is reasonably varied and precise, including phrases like 'universal themes of identity, isolation', though some collocations are unnatural, such as 'resonate with my life with this book'.

7.0
GRA

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

A good range of sentence structures is used with generally strong control, and errors such as the awkward 'I was able to resonate with my life with this book' are occasional and non-impeding.

7.0

What to work on next

Expand the description of the book's plot and correct awkward collocations such as 'resonate with my life with this book' to sharpen precision.

From essays on this question

Useful vocabulary: Letter to a Magazine About an Influential Book

From essays on this question

Sentence patterns: Letter to a Magazine About an Influential Book

Practise this question

Write your response

Task 1 General question loaded.
Part 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Write at least 150 words.

Words: 020:00 starts on first word