Letter to a Friend About Moving House

  • Housing
  • Notification
  • Invitation

You have recently moved to a different house. Write a letter to an English-speaking friend. In your letter • explain why you have moved • describe the new house • invite your friend to come and visit Dear.............,

Annotated response

1 correction note

Dear Henry, I know it would come to you as a surprise, but I've finally moved to a new house after living in my previous house for such a long time. Of course, it was not an easy decision for me, given how much I loved that house because of its proximity to a beautiful lake and animal sanctuary. But I needed to move out of it because its owner wanted to renovate it and then sell it to some corporate businesspeople at a very handsome profit. Of course, the new house, which I moved in, is a great place since it is a lot more spacious than my previous house. Besides, the new house is built with some solid wood, which I really like, because it would help the house to keep at a comfortable temperature throughout the year. So, it would mean that I'd have to spend a lot less money on the electricity bill to maintain a comfortable temperature at my house unlike the old one. Finally, it's located in a beautiful neighbourhood.

So, come and visit me sometime, possibly next weekend. I believe you would also like my new house. Warm wishes, Patrick

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 7.0

The letter covers all three bullet points in a friendly tone, with relevant detail about the move and the new house. Its main organisational weakness is the long opening block combining the greeting, reasons and description. Repeated transitions and some lengthy phrasing also make the message less fluent than it could be.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

Task Achievement

8.0

The letter fully achieves its communicative purpose, addresses all three bullet points from the prompt with relevant developed detail, and maintains a consistently appropriate friendly register.

Coherence and Cohesion

6.5

The letter has a broadly logical sequence and a separate invitation paragraph. However, the greeting, reason for moving and house description share one long opening block. Repeated Of course and So also make some transitions mechanical.

Lexical Resource

7.0

Vocabulary is generally flexible and natural, including phrases like 'proximity to a beautiful lake' and 'handsome profit', with occasional awkward constructions such as 'the new house, which I moved in'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

7.0

A range of complex and relative constructions is used with generally good control. Some lengthy constructions are awkward and could be made more direct, but the reasons, description and invitation remain readily understandable.

More responses with feedback

View all 11 responses (6.5–8.0)