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,

Annotated response

7 correction notes

Dear Sir or Madam,

A recent announcement in your magazine for an , titled “The book that influenced me most”, has motivated me to write a few words about a book that had influenced my thoughts . The name of the book is "My Journey to a Bigger Journey".

The book was about how a person from a very family background eventually became the president of a country. It was more like a , and the author, and also the main character in the book, so beautifully wrote about his struggles and life experience before reaching the pinnacle of success. The book also has many motivating stories and pieces of useful advice.

Until I read the book, I had a habit of virtually blaming anything and everything around me for the bad or negative things that were happening to me. As a result of this, I couldn’t really see my own shortcomings or my faults that were hindering my success. But, after reading that book, I finally got a chance to look at myself – my own negative thoughts and behaviour problems that are – and thereby changing my overall outlook on the world and people around me.

So, it was a great book indeed, and if it could change a negative person like me, change many others as well.

mention this book in your article.

Yours faithfully,

Anjali Prabhakar

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 7.0

The letter responds fully to the magazine prompt, covering all three bullet points with a suitable semi-formal tone and a clear personal voice. Its main limitation is occasional grammatical awkwardness, particularly the fragmented sentence about self-reflection, which briefly disrupts clarity while the message overall remains easy to follow.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

Task Achievement

7.5

The letter clearly states its purpose, addresses all three bullet points—describing the book's content, its influence on the writer, and its likely appeal to others—and maintains an appropriate semi-formal register, though the influence bullet is somewhat vaguely developed.

Coherence and Cohesion

7.0

Paragraphing is logical and progression from introduction to book description to personal impact is easy to follow, with only minor cohesion lapses such as the abrupt dash construction in the influence paragraph.

Lexical Resource

7.0

Vocabulary is reasonably flexible and natural, including phrases like 'humble family background' and 'pinnacle of success', though occasional informality ('it sure could change') and imprecision slightly limit the range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

7.0

A good range of sentence structures is demonstrated, including complex past-perfect and conditional forms, but noticeable errors such as the fragment 'my own negative thoughts and behaviour problems that are – and thereby changing' and tense slips reduce full accuracy.

More responses with feedback

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