CELPIP Email Examples: 3 Full Sample Emails and a Phrase Builder (2026)

Three complete sample emails

Each email answers one of the original Task 1 prompts on this site. The level is our judgement against the official performance standards, category by category; the notes say what earns it. Read the prompt first, then the email, then the notes.

Formal request to a company: A bag left behind at a conference venue

Level 10 · CLB 10

You attended a one-day conference at a hotel last Friday. When you got home you realised you had left a bag in one of the meeting rooms. Write an email to the hotel’s events office.

In about 150–200 words, write an email to the hotel events office. Your email should do the following things:

Describe the bag and where you think you left it
Explain why its contents are important to you
Ask how you can get it back

180 words

Dear Events Office, I am writing about a bag I left behind after the Northgate Marketing Conference at your hotel last Friday, October 24. The bag is a black backpack with a small red logo on the front pocket and a grey luggage tag. I believe I left it under my chair in the Maple Room, near the window, when the afternoon session ended at about 4:30 p.m. Inside are my laptop, its charger and a notebook with the contacts I made during the day. The laptop matters most: it holds the files for a presentation I am due to give on Monday morning, and the notebook cannot be replaced at all. I would be very grateful if your staff could check the Maple Room and the lost-and-found. If the bag has been found, could you let me know how I can collect it? I can come to the hotel any evening after 5 p.m., or I would gladly pay for a courier if that is easier for you. Thank you very much for your help. Kind regards, Tomas Ferreira

Every bullet point gets a paragraph with a checkable detail: the date, the room, the time, what is inside.
The second paragraph explains why the bag matters with a consequence (a Monday presentation), not with adjectives.
The request is concrete and gives the reader two ways to say yes (collect in person or courier), which is a level-9+ move.

Write your own email on this prompt

Formal request with a proposal: A daycare that is changing its closing time

Level 10 · CLB 10

Your child’s daycare has announced that from next month it will close at 5 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. You finish work at 5:30 p.m. and cannot change your hours. Write an email to the daycare director.

In about 150–200 words, write an email to the daycare director. Your email should do the following things:

Explain how the new closing time affects your family
Ask whether any alternative is possible
Propose a solution that could work for both sides

188 words

Dear Ms. Laurent, I am writing about the new closing time of 5 p.m. announced for November, and about what it means for our daughter Amira. My shift at the clinic finishes at 5:30 p.m., and the earliest I can reach the daycare is 5:50. My husband works out of town from Monday to Thursday, and we have no family nearby who could pick her up. In practice, the new hours would leave us without anyone to collect Amira four days a week, after three happy years with you. Could you tell me whether any flexibility is possible? Even a 5:45 closing would allow me to arrive in time, and I would be willing to pay an additional fee for the extra hour if staffing costs are the reason for the change. Alternatively, I know at least two other families on the evening shift at the clinic. If three or four of us shared the cost of one educator staying until 6 p.m., the extra hour might cover itself, and I would be glad to help organise it. Thank you for considering our situation. Kind regards, Hana Nasser

The effect is shown with specifics (5:30 shift, 5:50 arrival, husband away Monday to Thursday) rather than stated as "difficult".
The email asks a question, then offers a compromise, then proposes a solution the reader could actually adopt: three steps of politeness in three paragraphs.
Formal throughout, but warm ("three happy years with you"); the sign-off matches the greeting.

Write your own email on this prompt

Semi-formal thank-you to a local business: Thanking a business that supported a neighbourhood cleanup

Level 9 · CLB 9

You organised a cleanup of the park in your neighbourhood. A local hardware store donated gloves, bags and tools. Write an email to the store owner.

In about 150–200 words, write an email to the store owner. Your email should do the following things:

Thank the owner for the donation
Describe how the cleanup went
Invite the store to take part in the next event

173 words

Dear Mr. Singh, I wanted to thank you properly for everything Riverside Hardware gave us for the Elm Park cleanup last Saturday: forty pairs of gloves, the garbage bags, and the rakes and litter pickers that your staff dropped off before we had even finished setting up. The morning went better than any of us expected. Thirty-two neighbours came, including a whole Grade 5 class from Elm Street School, and we filled twenty-six bags in three hours. The playground, the path along the creek and the parking lot are clean for the first time since spring, and two families have already asked when the next one is. That next one is Saturday, November 15, at 9 a.m. We would be honoured to have you or your staff with us, and we would be happy to put the store's name on the sign-in table and in the thank-you post that the residents' association is sending out this week. Thank you again for making the day possible. Best regards, Priya Nair Elm Park Residents' Association

Thanks are specific (forty pairs of gloves, dropped off early), which is what makes gratitude convincing in writing.
The results are numbers: thirty-two neighbours, twenty-six bags, three hours. Content/Coherence rises with detail, not with length.
The invitation comes with a date, a time and something for the reader (the store's name on the sign-in table).

Write your own email on this prompt

The structure every CELPIP email follows

Raters rate four categories, and Task Fulfillment (relevance, completeness, tone, word count) is one quarter of the task. The simplest way to protect it is a fixed shape: a greeting that matches the reader; one sentence that says why you are writing; one paragraph per bullet point, in the order given, each with one concrete detail; a closing line; a sign-off and your name. The three emails above all follow it, and so does the skeleton from the builder. The email writing format page shows each line for formal, semi-formal and friendly readers, and the Task 1 guide covers planning and timing.

Openings and sign-offs by reader

Reader	Tone	Greeting	Sign-off
Your manager	formal	Dear Ms. Patel,	Kind regards,
A landlord or building manager	formal	Dear Mr. Okafor,	Sincerely,
A company or customer service	formal	Dear Customer Service,	Yours sincerely,
A school, city office or organisation	formal	Dear Program Coordinator,	Sincerely,
A coworker	semi-formal	Hi Jordan,	Best,
A neighbour you know	semi-formal	Hello Mrs. Chen,	Thanks,
A friend or family member	friendly	Hi Marco,	See you soon,

A conditional request ("If that is not possible, I would be grateful for…") belongs in the last body paragraph, not in the sign-off. The sign-off is two words and a comma, then your name on the next line; it should never introduce a new request or change the register.

What separates a level 7 email from a level 10 email

Detail. A level 7 says the noise is "very loud"; a level 10 says it starts at 7 a.m. including weekends and cost you a medication error at work. One checkable detail per paragraph.
A request the reader can act on. Level 10 emails ask for something specific and offer a fallback or an alternative; level 7 emails ask the reader to "do something about it".
Control, not decoration. One correct concession ("I understand that…, but…") or conditional is worth more than three attempts at long words.
Tone held to the end. "Dear Ms. Laurent" cannot end with "Cheers!!". The sample pairs show the same prompt at a mid and a high level.

CELPIP writing Task 1 questions to practise

8 original Task 1 questions in the official format, by theme and tone. Each one opens in the scorer with the 27-minute timer; the three emails above answer the first three with samples.

Renovation noise from the apartment upstairs (housing, formal)
A community-centre course that changed halfway (education, formal)
A friend wants to visit next month (family, friendly)
Cancelling a gym membership before moving (services, formal)
Proposing a carpool to a coworker (work, semi-formal)
A bag left behind at a conference venue (services, formal)
Thanking a business that supported a neighbourhood cleanup (community, semi-formal)
A daycare that is changing its closing time (family, formal)

For both tasks under the official clock, take the free writing mock test.

Frequently asked questions

What does a CELPIP email look like?

A greeting that fits the reader, one sentence that says why you are writing, one short paragraph for each of the three bullet points in the prompt, a closing line, and a sign-off with your name. No subject line, no address, no date: the test gives you a plain text box.

How long should a CELPIP email be?

The test recommends 150–200 words, and the screen shows a live word count. A greeting, a purpose line, three paragraphs of 40–50 words and a closing line land naturally at 170–190; the three examples here are 183, 191 and 184 words.

Formal or informal: how do I decide?

The prompt names the reader. A manager, landlord, company, school or city office takes a formal tone (Dear…, no contractions, requests as questions); a coworker or a neighbour you know takes a semi-formal tone; a friend or family member takes a friendly tone. Mixing registers costs Task Fulfillment marks.

Which sign-off should I use?

Formal: "Kind regards," or "Sincerely,". Semi-formal: "Best," or "Thanks,". Friendly: "See you soon," or "Love,". "Yours faithfully" is dated in Canada, and a sign-off should never change the register set by the greeting.

Can I use these emails on the test?

Not as text: your prompt will be different, and an email that does not answer its three bullet points loses Task Fulfillment marks. Use them for the moves: one detail per paragraph, a request with a fallback, a tone held from greeting to sign-off.

Where do I find CELPIP writing Task 1 questions to practise?

The eight original Task 1 prompts on this site are listed below and on the practice page; each opens in the scorer with the 27-minute timer. The official free sample test on celpip.ca has one official item.

Task 1 timing and word counts: CELPIP Test Format & Scoring (53 minutes for the writing component) and the official free sample test (27 minutes, 150–200 words), read 20 October 2026. The emails and prompts on this page are original and are not test items; "/celpip-writing-samples/" pages show the same prompts at two levels.