You recently went shopping at the local supermarket. When you got home and checked your bill, you found that you had been charged for items you did not purchase. Write a letter to the supermarket manager. In your letter: - explain what has happened - say how you feel about the error - say what you would like the manager to do about it
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am a regular customer of your shop and went there earlier today to do some shopping. I am quite disappointed to notice that I was billed for items that I did not purchase at all. Unfortunately, I noticed it only when I returned home. I am hoping that you would rectify the issue. I visited your shop at around 9.30 am on Sunday, July 2025 and purchased a number of items. I paid my bill to a young lady who was managing the cash queue 4. I gave her my VISA credit card and was charged 142 dollars and 25 cents for all of my items. The counter was unusually busy and I did not have enough time to crosscheck the amount of the goods I purchased. When I got back home and studied the bill, I noticed some errors. I was charged for each item I bought and in addition, for a pair of socks, 100-gram cheese, a bottle of shampoo and one-kilo apple. I checked again whether they actually packed those items for me and there were nowhere to be found! As I observed, I was 24.75 dollars overcharged for the items I have not purchased. I am attaching the receipt for your consideration and would like you to refund my amount next time I visit your mall. A mistake like this is not acceptable from a shop like yours. Please take the necessary steps to rectify this error and make sure it does not happen again. I look forward to getting a reply from you promptly. Thanking you, Gazelle Nilla
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use past tense Original: am quite disappointed to notice Suggested revision: was quite disappointed to notice Why it matters: The disappointment arose when the error was discovered in the past.
- 2. Match hope construction Original: am hoping that you would rectify Suggested revision: hope that you will rectify Why it matters: Use 'hope' with 'will' for a requested future action.
- 3. Fix date phrase Original: on Sunday, July 2025 Suggested revision: on a Sunday in July 2025 Why it matters: The preposition 'in' is needed when July identifies the month rather than a specific date.
- 4. Use checkout wording Original: managing the cash queue 4 Suggested revision: working at checkout 4 Why it matters: A cashier works at a numbered checkout rather than managing a cash queue.
- 5. Simplify card name Original: my VISA credit card Suggested revision: my Visa card Why it matters: This is the more natural and concise way to name the payment card.
- 6. Hyphenate compound verb Original: crosscheck Suggested revision: cross-check Why it matters: The standard form of this verb is hyphenated.
- 7. Use cost collocation Original: amount of the goods Suggested revision: cost of the goods Why it matters: 'Cost' refers to the price payable for the goods.
- 8. Remove faulty connector Original: and in addition, for Suggested revision: as well as for Why it matters: The replacement links the legitimate and extra charges without the misplaced comma.
- 9. Add quantity structure Original: 100-gram cheese Suggested revision: 100 grams of cheese Why it matters: A measured amount of an uncountable noun requires 'grams of'.
- 10. Fix quantity noun Original: one-kilo apple Suggested revision: one kilogram of apples Why it matters: The quantity requires 'of' and a plural count noun.
- 11. Use past perfect passive Original: whether they actually packed those items for me Suggested revision: whether those items had actually been packed for me Why it matters: The passive past perfect correctly describes packing before the later check.
- 12. Fix pronoun agreement Original: there were nowhere to be found Suggested revision: they were nowhere to be found Why it matters: 'They' must refer directly to the plural items.
Suggested Rewrites
- am quite disappointed to notice was quite disappointed to notice
- am hoping that you would rectify hope that you will rectify
- on Sunday, July 2025 on a Sunday in July 2025
- managing the cash queue 4 working at checkout 4
- my VISA credit card my Visa card
- crosscheck cross-check
Why this response received Band 6.5
The letter communicates its purpose immediately, covers every requested point, and supports the complaint with useful transaction details in an appropriately formal tone. Its main limitation is recurring awkward or inaccurate phrasing, alongside a dense single-block presentation. The highest priority is to organise the account and request into clear paragraphs while replacing unnatural expressions with precise, idiomatic wording.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are fully addressed, and the requested refund is supported with relevant details.
Make the transaction date and refund arrangements more precise and avoid slightly excessive operational detail.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information follows a logical chronology and cohesive references generally make the complaint easy to follow, but the response is presented as one dense block.
Separate the opening, transaction account, discovered error, and requested action into purposeful paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
A good range of complaint and transaction vocabulary is used, though several collocations are awkward or imprecise.
Replace phrases such as refund my amount and cash queue with natural expressions such as issue a refund and checkout lane.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses varied sentence forms and remains clear, but article, agreement, and noun-form errors recur.
Proofread noun phrases and agreement carefully, especially expressions such as a 100-gram block of cheese and the items were nowhere to be found.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently went shopping at the local supermarket. When you got home and checked your bill, you found that you had been charged for items you did not purchase. Write a letter to the supermarket manager. In your letter:
- explain what has happened
- say how you feel about the error
- say what you would like the manager to do about it
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.