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General Training Task 1 Letters: Tone, Structure, Set Phrases

IELTS Writing29 August 2026 · 7 min read · WiderAI Team

In IELTS General Training Task 1, you write a letter of at least 150 words in about 20 minutes, responding to a situation and covering three bullet points. The single decision that shapes everything else is tone: who are you writing to, and how well do you know them? Get the tone right, cover all three bullets, and organise the letter into clear paragraphs, and you are most of the way to a good score.

There are three tones, and the prompt always tells you which one you need. If the recipient is a stranger or an organisation (a manager, a council, a company), the letter is formal. If it is someone you know in a professional or practical context (a landlord, a colleague, a neighbour you deal with politely), it is semi-formal. If it is a friend or family member, it is informal. The greeting the prompt suggests is your clue: "Dear Sir or Madam" means formal; "Dear Mr Karimov" usually means semi-formal; "Dear Aziz" means informal.

The most common way candidates lose marks is not weak grammar — it is mixing tones. A letter that opens "Dear Sir or Madam" and later says "Anyway, drop me a line!" tells the examiner you cannot control register, and that costs marks under more than one criterion. Choose the tone in the first thirty seconds and hold it to the last line.

How do you decide which tone the letter needs?

Ask two questions before you write a word. First: do I know this person's name? If the answer is no, the letter is formal, you open with "Dear Sir or Madam", and you close with "Yours faithfully". Second: if I know them, is the relationship personal or practical? A friend gets contractions, phrasal verbs and exclamation marks; a landlord gets full forms, measured politeness and no slang.

Tone shows up in small choices, so learn the contrasts as pairs:

One pair of these used correctly does more for your score than a paragraph of memorised decoration, because it proves you selected language for the situation rather than recited it.

Underline the recipient in the prompt before you plan anything. Every sentence you write should sound natural said aloud to that exact person.

A structure that works for every letter

You do not need a different plan for complaints, invitations and requests. One frame handles all of them, and it maps neatly onto the three bullet points every GT Task 1 prompt contains.

  1. Greeting, then one or two sentences stating why you are writing. Do not copy the prompt's wording — rephrase it in your own words.
  2. First body paragraph: the first bullet point, developed with specific detail.
  3. Second body paragraph: the second and third bullet points, each with detail. Split them into two paragraphs if you have time and words to spare.
  4. Closing paragraph: say what you want to happen next — a reply, an action, a meeting.
  5. Sign-off matched to the greeting, then a name.

Each bullet point needs real development, not a single sentence. If the prompt says "explain what the problem is", do not write "There is a problem with the heating." Write what is wrong, since when, and what effect it has: "The heating in the flat has not worked since Monday, and with night temperatures near zero the bedroom is now too cold for my daughter to sleep in." Invented specifics are expected — the examiner assesses your English, not your honesty.

If a bullet point gets fewer than two sentences in your letter, you have summarised it, not covered it — and Task Achievement is scored on coverage and development.

Set phrases that carry each letter type

Set phrases are scaffolding: they buy you time and guarantee a natural opening and closing, while your own detail fills the middle. Learn a small kit for each tone rather than a long list you will half-remember.

Formal letters

Open with purpose: "I am writing to complain about / to enquire about / to apply for / to bring to your attention…". Make requests with distance: "I would appreciate it if you could…", "Could you please confirm whether…". Escalate a complaint politely: "Unless the matter is resolved promptly, I will have no option but to…". Close with "I look forward to hearing from you" and "Yours faithfully" (unnamed recipient) or "Yours sincerely" (named recipient).

Semi-formal letters

Keep the politeness, soften the distance: "I hope this letter finds you well", "I am writing about the flat I rent from you at…", "Would it be possible to…?", "Thank you for your understanding". Close with "Best regards" or "Kind regards". Contractions are acceptable here in moderation; slang is not.

Informal letters

Sound like a person, not a textbook: "Great to hear from you!", "Sorry it's taken me so long to write back", "You'll never guess what happened", "Let me know what you think", "Give my love to everyone". Close with "Take care", "All the best" or "Love". Contractions are not just allowed — an informal letter without any contractions sounds stiff, and stiffness is a tone error too.

How the letter is actually scored

Four criteria carry equal weight: Task Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. The official descriptors are published on ielts.org, but in plain terms the examiner is checking four things: did you cover all three bullets in an appropriate tone, is the letter easy to follow paragraph by paragraph, is the vocabulary precise and natural for the situation, and is the grammar varied and mostly accurate.

Task Achievement is where letters differ most from essays. Tone is assessed here: a consistently appropriate register lifts the band, and inconsistent register drags it down even when the English is otherwise strong. Missing a bullet point entirely caps the criterion hard, so check all three are visibly covered before you move to Task 2.

Length matters too, but only in one direction. Under 150 words is penalised; there is no penalty for going over, though anything past about 190 words steals time from Task 2, which is worth twice as much. Aim for 160–180 words of purposeful writing.

Spend the last two minutes rereading only for tone and coverage: greeting matches sign-off, all three bullets present, no formal phrase in an informal letter or the reverse.

Practising judgement about register transfers directly from speaking, where you already adjust naturally between chatting and explaining — if you want to test that instinct under exam pressure, an IELTS speaking mock test will show you how consistently you control tone in real time. For the essay half of the writing paper, the other guides on the WiderAI blog break down each writing criterion in the same plain terms.

WiderAI gives you AI-scored IELTS mock tests with instant band scores and examiner-style feedback.

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Frequently asked questions

Do I need to write addresses or a date in the IELTS letter?

No. Unlike school letter-writing conventions, IELTS letters need no addresses, no date and no subject line. Start with the greeting, end with the sign-off and a name, and let the paragraphs in between do the work. Adding addresses wastes time and earns nothing.

Can I invent details for the letter?

Yes, and you should. The task expects you to imagine the situation, so a specific invented detail — a date, a flat number, a product name — makes the letter more convincing and gives you material to develop each bullet point. The examiner assesses language, not factual truth.

Is "Yours faithfully" or "Yours sincerely" correct?

Use "Yours faithfully" when you opened with "Dear Sir or Madam", and "Yours sincerely" when you opened with the person's name. For semi-formal letters, "Kind regards" or "Best regards" is safe. For informal letters, use warm closings such as "Take care" or "All the best".

What happens if I miss one of the three bullet points?

Your Task Achievement score is capped, because the task has only been partially covered — and this is one of the most common reasons an otherwise fluent letter scores lower than expected. Tick each bullet in the question as you cover it, and reread the prompt before your final check.

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