Your next-door neighbour often listens to loud music late at night, which causes you problems sleeping. Write a letter to the authority of the building. In your letter: - describe the situation - explain the problems it is causing you - propose a solution
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
I live on the north side of the Daffodil Apartment Complexyour Daffodil apartment complex, Building 4, flat 5-D, next to the lake, and I am writing this letter to inform you about a problem that I have been facing lately.
DeleteActually, the issue is that one of my next-door neighbours has been causing this problem by playing loud music untiltill very late at night. I do not exactly mind this kind of noise once in a while, especially if it is heardif they are heard at weekends or on holidaysduring the weekend or holidays. But it has become a cause of concern, to say the least, as it pretty much an every night thing and prevents me from having a good night's sleepgood-night sleep. And, as you perhaps know, how sloppy and slow one becomes at work without proper sleep at night. I, of course, have tried to reason with my neighbour on multiple occasions by telling him about my sleep problem, but he just does not seem to take my concern seriouslycare about my concern at all.
Therefore, I would like to request you to intervene to solve this problem as a person of authority so that I can have some good sleep, at least, during the weekdays.
Yours faithfully,
Jimmy Falon
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter’s strongest feature is its complete and relevant coverage of the recurring noise, its impact on sleep and work, and the request for intervention, all in a generally appropriate formal tone. Its main limitation is uneven language control, with a sentence fragment, a missing verb, and some overly conversational wording. Prioritise making the proposed action more specific and proofreading every sentence for completeness and professional phrasing.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are developed with relevant detail, and the tone is generally suitable for building management.
Propose a more concrete action, such as asking management to issue a formal noise warning or enforce quiet hours.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter is logically paragraphed and progresses clearly from context to problem, consequences, prior action, and request.
Reduce the number of discourse markers within the main paragraph so the progression feels more direct.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a sufficiently varied and mostly appropriate range for complaint and impact, with a few informal or awkward choices.
Replace phrases such as ‘pretty much an every night thing’ and ‘sloppy’ with more professional wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex structures is handled effectively, though a missing verb and a sentence fragment are noticeable lapses.
Correct ‘as it pretty much an every night thing’ and rewrite the fragment beginning ‘And, as you perhaps know’.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your next-door neighbour often listens to loud music late at night, which causes you problems sleeping. Write a letter to the authority of the building. In your letter:
- describe the situation
- explain the problems it is causing you
- propose a solution
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.