You and your family are living in rented accommodation in an English-speaking country. You are not satisfied with the condition of some of the furniture. Write a letter to the landlord. In your letter: - introduce yourself - explain what is wrong with the furniture - say what action you would like the landlord to take
Sample Response
Dear Mr. Thompson,
My name is Ella Young, and my family and I have been renting your apartment on Maple Streetyour Maple Street apartment for the past six months. I am writing to bring to your attention several problemssome issues with the furniture in the apartmenton the property that require urgent attention.
The main concern is the dining table and chairs, which are quite unstable. The table legs are wobbly, and one of the chairs has already broken during usewhile in use. Additionally, the sofa in the living room is badly wornis in poor condition, with torn fabric and sagging cushions, making it uncomfortable to sit on. We have also noticedWe also noticed that one of the wardrobe doors in the master bedroom does not close properly.
Given these issues, I would appreciate it if you could either arrange for repairs or replaceeither arrange for repairs or consider replacing the damaged furniture at your earliest convenience. Please let me know how you would like to proceed.
I look forward to your prompt response.
Yours sincerely,
Ella Young
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter is highly effective: it establishes the tenancy, describes several furniture defects precisely, and requests an appropriate remedy in a consistently courteous tone. Its only notable limitation is that the requested next step remains slightly general, so the best refinement would be to propose a practical inspection or repair timeframe while preserving the concise, polished style.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter fully covers the writer's identity, the furniture problems, and the requested action with specific, relevant detail and a suitable tone.
Strengthen the action request further by suggesting a convenient inspection date or a clear timeframe for repairs.
Coherence and Cohesion
Purposeful paragraphs, clear sequencing, and well-controlled referencing make the letter easy to follow throughout.
For further refinement, connect the repair request to the preceding examples with a slightly more explicit summary transition.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is precise, natural, and well suited to a courteous complaint, with effective descriptions such as wobbly, torn, and sagging.
Maintain this precision while adding one or two practical terms related to inspection, repair, or replacement arrangements.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of sentence structures is used accurately and flexibly, with consistently clear punctuation and virtually no noticeable errors.
Preserve the strong control while varying the opening of one or two sentences to make the rhythm even more flexible.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You and your family are living in rented accommodation in an English-speaking country. You are not satisfied with the condition of some of the furniture. Write a letter to the landlord. In your letter:
- introduce yourself
- explain what is wrong with the furniture
- say what action you would like the landlord to take
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.