Writing Task 1
Writing an Email
In Writing Task 1 you are given a short situation and asked to write an email about it. The question always tells you who you are writing to, and it lists three points your email has to cover. You get 27 minutes and you should write 150 to 200 words.
The situation is different in every test, but an email is nearly always doing one of five jobs. Pick the one closest to your question below. Each has its own five-line shape, because a complaint and an invitation are not built the same way, and the marker is listening for a different tone in each.
What kind of email?
Pick the one closest to your own question.
The hard part is staying polite while being very specific about what you want.
A question like this
This is the format you will see on test day.
You moved into a new apartment two weeks ago. You reported a heating problem to the building manager by phone, but it still has not been fixed.
Write an email to the building manager in about 150-200 words. Your email should include the following points:
- Explain what the problem is and when you first reported it.
- Describe how the problem has affected you.
- Say exactly what you would like the manager to do.
You don’t need to include a subject line; start directly with a salutation such as “Hi,”, “Dear...,” etc.
The template
Everything in black is written for you. Tap each blue blank and type one detail from your own question.
This is the Complaint version. Need a different one?
Dear ,
Purpose, up front
I am writing regarding , which I first reported on and which is still unresolved.
How to use this template
A band-10 answer, one line at a time, and the reason each line scores.
Lines you can borrow
Natural phrasing for this kind of email, grouped by what it is doing.
Check before you finish
Six things to read your own answer against before you submit it.
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Premium opens the rest of this page:
- All five lines of the template, with blanks you fill in
- A band-10 answer, line by line, and why each one scores
- Ready-made phrases for this kind of email
- The check-before-you-finish list