The road in front of your house was damaged a long time ago and nothing has been done about it. Write a letter to the municipal authority. In your letter: - introduce yourself - explain the condition of the road - suggest what the authority should do
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am a resident of one of the major suburbs of Johor Bahru city, and I am writing this letter to express my disappointment and frustration over the inaction and negligence of our municipal authority regarding a damaged road. I requested our municipal office to repair the road, which got damaged because of excessive rains and transportation of heavily-loaded vehicles, in front of my house almost a year ago. But, surprisingly, no visible action has been taken yet to show that the damaged road is going to be rebuilt anytime soon. As a result, this road has become really dangerous for even riding a motorbike on it, let alone large vehicles. It even becomes more terrible for travelling, especially when it rains and the water accumulates in the potholes of the damaged road surface because people can not really see the road properly when driving on it. So, I would like to request you to take the necessary steps on an urgent basis in order to fix the damaged road in front of my house as soon as possible before some major accidents happen. Yours sincerely, Yan Lee
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. State location concisely Original: one of the major suburbs of Johor Bahru city Suggested revision: a suburb of Johor Bahru Why it matters: The shorter phrase introduces the writer's location more naturally and precisely.
- 2. Use natural collocation Original: excessive rains Suggested revision: heavy rain Why it matters: 'Heavy rain' is the standard uncountable expression for intense rainfall.
- 3. Clarify traffic cause Original: transportation of heavily-loaded vehicles Suggested revision: heavy vehicle traffic Why it matters: The original wording suggests that the vehicles themselves were being transported.
- 4. Use precise hazard wording Original: It even becomes more terrible for travelling Suggested revision: The road becomes even more hazardous Why it matters: 'More terrible for travelling' is vague and unnatural for describing road conditions.
- 5. Correct and tighten phrase Original: can not really see the road properly Suggested revision: cannot see the road clearly Why it matters: 'Cannot' is written as one word, and 'clearly' avoids redundant modifiers.
- 6. Use concise wording Original: on an urgent basis Suggested revision: urgently Why it matters: The adverb conveys the same request more directly.
- 7. Match formal salutation Original: sincerely Suggested revision: faithfully Why it matters: 'Yours faithfully' conventionally matches a letter opened with 'Dear Sir or Madam'.
- 8. Use measured formal tone Original: disappointment and frustration Suggested revision: serious concern Why it matters: This wording keeps the complaint firm while sounding more measured and professional.
- 9. Use neutral reference Original: our Suggested revision: the Why it matters: The definite article is more appropriate when addressing the responsible public body directly.
- 10. Clarify official body Original: our Suggested revision: the Why it matters: A neutral definite reference is clearer in a formal complaint to the authority.
- 11. Describe flooding concisely Original: when it rains and the water accumulates in the potholes of the damaged road surface Suggested revision: when rainwater fills the potholes Why it matters: The revision conveys the same road condition more directly and naturally.
- 12. Remove vague pronoun Original: when driving on it Suggested revision: while driving Why it matters: The shorter phrase avoids an unnecessary and potentially unclear reference to 'it'.
Suggested Rewrites
- one of the major suburbs of Johor Bahru city a suburb of Johor Bahru
- excessive rains heavy rain
- transportation of heavily-loaded vehicles heavy vehicle traffic
- It even becomes more terrible for travelling The road becomes even more hazardous
- can not really see the road properly cannot see the road clearly
- on an urgent basis urgently
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter communicates the complaint clearly, develops the hazardous road conditions with convincing detail, and makes an urgent request in an appropriately formal tone. Its main weakness is a dense single-paragraph structure combined with several awkward collocations and overloaded sentences; prioritise purposeful paragraphing and tighter sentence construction so the authority can identify the problem and requested action more efficiently.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The writer introduces their connection to the area, explains the road's condition and dangers in detail, and clearly requests prompt repairs.
Make the introduction more concrete with the precise location and specify the requested repair action rather than relying partly on general wording.
Coherence and Cohesion
The complaint progresses logically from background to consequences and action, but the single dense paragraph and some heavy linking weaken organisation.
Divide the response into clear paragraphs for introduction, road condition and risks, and the requested remedy.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a strong range of topic-specific vocabulary, although phrases such as "excessive rains" and "more terrible for travelling" are not fully natural.
Choose more precise collocations such as "heavy rainfall", "heavy vehicles", and "particularly hazardous to travel on".
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex clauses are used with generally good control, but several long sentences contain awkward word order or excessive embedding.
Break overloaded sentences into cleaner units and refine preposition placement, especially around the road's location and risks.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
The road in front of your house was damaged a long time ago and nothing has been done about it. Write a letter to the municipal authority. In your letter:
- introduce yourself
- explain the condition of the road
- suggest what the authority should do
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.