An informal letter asking a favour
The informal register with a job to do: a real favour, asked properly. Written online against the clock, self-assessed against the four criteria, and shown beside the Band 7.5+ model letter I wrote for it.
How to use this. Write the letter in the box below in about twenty minutes, at least 150 words, as in the real test. Cover all three bullet points and hold a consistent register throughout. When you've finished, open Self-assessment to mark your own work against the four criteria and read the Band 7.5+ model letter I wrote for it. You can download a copy to keep. For a person to mark your writing against the criteria, the first lesson includes a full assessment. New to the letter? Start with the GT Writing: the letter guide. The same register: paper 02, the letter to a friend.
Write the letter.
Recommended 20 minutes · at least 150 words
You are going away for two weeks and need someone to look after your flat and your cat. Write a letter to a friend. In your letter:
- explain why you are going away
- describe what would need doing while you are gone
- offer to do something for your friend in return
Write at least 150 words. You do not need to write any addresses. Begin your letter Dear ...,
Mark your own work.
Be honest with yourself against the four criteria, the same four an examiner uses on the letter. Then read the model letter and see exactly what a Band 7.5+ answer does.
Task Achievement
Coherence & Cohesion
Lexical Resource
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
The model letter I wrote for this task
Dear Sam,
You'll never guess: work is finally sending me to the Lisbon office, two whole weeks from the 3rd. I've been angling for this trip all year, so I'm thrilled, but it leaves me with a flat and a very opinionated cat.
Would you be up for staying at mine while I'm away? Or even just dropping in every day or two. Milo needs feeding morning and evening (his food is in the cupboard by the fridge), the plants on the balcony want watering twice a week, and if you could put the bins out on Tuesday nights you'd be a hero. The wifi is fast and the spare room is yours if you fancy a change of scene.
Obviously I owe you. I'll bring you back a crate of that Portuguese wine you liked, and next time you go away I'll return the favour, cat hair and all.
Let me know what you think, and I'll drop the keys round this weekend.
Cheers,
Nadia
Why it scores. It sounds like a person. The news comes first, the favour grows naturally out of it, and every task is concrete enough to act on, which quietly completes the second bullet. Contractions, everyday idiom (up for, you'd be a hero) and the return offer close the third bullet without ceremony.
Where a letter like this usually loses marks. Formality leaking in: I am writing to request your assistance kills the register in one line. The subtler loss is the vague favour: look after the flat with no detail leaves the second bullet undeveloped, however friendly the voice.
This is a model letter I wrote for this task, not a marked student submission. For a person to mark a letter of yours against the four criteria, the first lesson is a full assessment.
Take your work with you.
Download your letter alongside the model, so you can revise it later or bring it to a lesson.
First time writing a letter? Work through the GT Writing: the letter guide, then write this one against the clock.
Send a task. Get it back marked.
A model shows you the target. It can’t tell you why your own letter sits below it.
Write the letter above and send it to me. I’ll mark it in detail against the four assessment criteria and return it to you annotated, line by line, so you can see exactly where the band is sitting and what is holding it down. Written work is handled this way around the lessons, sent over and returned marked between sessions, which keeps the fifty minutes themselves free for speaking. The first lesson is a full assessment. Regular lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English.