You live in an area where the local council has made some changes to regulations. You believe these changes are not good for the residents. Write a letter to a councillor. In your letter: - introduce yourself - describe the problem - say what you think the council should do about the situation
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am Patrick Moon, a resident of Cabourne, Lincolnshire, andLincolnshire and a medical doctor by profession. I am writing to express my opposition toexpress my opposing views on the recent changes that the council has recently introducedchanges that the council have applied recently. I hope you would reconsider these changesreconsider the imposed changes as they are contrary to residents' interestsagainst the people's interests. The decision to restrict public accessentry to Central Lincolnshire Park is not acceptable to most residentsmost of the residents. Many residents, with whom I have talked in the past weeks, feel very negatively regarding the council's decision. Moreover, the council has decided to impose a weekly subscription fee for the public library access which I believe is not a good move considering a large number of student members. The 'Central Lincolnshire Park' is a place where local residents can walk freelywhere local residents can freely walk, meet others, enjoy the natural sceneryscenic beauty of mother nature and play with their childrenplay with children. The park should remain open to all.It should be open to all. Moreover, access to the library should remain free for studentsthe library access should be free to students while other readers could pay a membership feeyou can expect some membership fees from other readers. Please reconsider the changes that have been recently made as they are in no way helping people which is one of the important responsibilities of the council. I would really appreciate it if you reviewanalyse the changes and put people's interests above all. Yours faithfully, Patrick Moon
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter presents a clear objection, explains two concrete regulatory problems, and proposes practical remedies in an appropriately formal voice. Its main limitation is presentation and language control: the response is not divided into functional paragraphs, and several awkward or redundant phrases reduce polish, so the highest-priority improvement is to organise the introduction, problems, and requested actions into separate paragraphs while tightening collocations.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The writer introduces himself, explains both contested changes in detail, and makes clear, relevant requests to the councillor.
Frame the requests a little more diplomatically and explain briefly how unrestricted park access would remain workable.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument follows a clear overall sequence, but the absence of paragraphing and repeated use of 'Moreover' weaken organisation.
Divide the letter into an opening, a paragraph for each problem, and a concise action-focused closing.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the topic, although collocations such as 'express my opposing views' and 'library access' are awkward.
Use more natural combinations such as 'express my opposition' and 'access to the library' while removing repeated wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex sentences is generally controlled, and errors rarely interfere with the message.
Review agreement, article use, and relative-clause attachment, particularly in sentences about the council and library fees.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You live in an area where the local council has made some changes to regulations. You believe these changes are not good for the residents. Write a letter to a councillor. In your letter:
- introduce yourself
- describe the problem
- say what you think the council should do about the situation
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.