General Training - Task 1 - Type: Informal Letter - Subject: Staying in a relative house

You are planning a short visit to a city where one of your relatives lives.

Write a letter to your relative. In your letter:

· Explain when and how long you will be in town.

· Ask whether you can stay at their home.

· Offer to pay for yourself.

Dear Rafa,

How are you cousin? I hope it finds you well. It's been long since I last saw you. I am writing because in August I'm going to be attending a business conference in Sydney, and I was wondering if I could stay at your place for a couple of days.

My arrival is going to be on 5th August and I'm going to stay for 5 days, but I would be happy at spending a few days extra so that we can have fun together.

The event is just two blocks from your home, so I thought I could kill two birds with one stone if could stay at your place. It is a convenient location and we would be more time together. Isn't it perfect?

Cousin, I could pay you for my stay, because the expenditures might be cover by the company. We could be together and I pay you as if I was in a hotel. So it is a win-win.

Please let me know if you could be available to welcome me.

Hugs,

Marcelo Xavier.

There are a few sentence presentations here that do not sound natural in the English language. However, the examiner will overlook that since he is conscious of the fact that you are an English Second Language learner. Besides, the unnatural tone did not prevent you from delivering the required information for the letter. However, when you offer to pay for your stay, don't say "might" as if you are expecting your cousin to let you stay for free. Instead, refer to the company as "has agreed to pay for all expenses" or a similar presentation. That way you truly meet the writing requirement that says "offer to pay for yourself". Overall, not a bad job. This type of writing can probably earn you a score of 6. Not that you were asking. I just thought you might be inspired to do even better with your next practice essay if I let you know that you are doing well enough on your practice tests for you to risk trying to write in a slightly more advanced form so that you can probably get a higher score,

I think you should use: "met" instead of "saw" in the 3rd sentence. Also, in the 4th sentence, it should be "I am writing this because...".