There have been some problems with the public transport you use to commute daily. Write a letter to the manager of the public transport company. In your letter: - describe the problems - explain how these problems are affecting you and others - suggest what could be done about it
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I understand that this is not the type of letter you would like to see from the commuters who use the transport services provided by your companytransportations of your company, but I am left with no other choice but to write it. We, the local residents ofWe, the local residents, of the small town of Lake Tahomalittle lake Tahoma town are dealing with some seriousfrustrating problems with our public transportation system who use your transportation almost daily. Your company has only a few public buses in Lake Tahoma town even though it has a rather sizeable population, and those few buses are just not enough to passengerstransport users to their destinationsdesired locations on time. To make things even morefurther complicated, a couple of bus drivers have become frequently unavailable for worka bit too old for their jobs, and as such, they fail to report for dutyappear for their duties on a regular basisevery once in a while, leaving many residents uncertaincompletely clueless about how or when they canwould reach their destinations. This is not an ideal situation, especially for the peopleespecially, for the people who have to commute to work every daygo to their jobs daily. Therefore, I would like to request you to get some more public buses on our roads immediately, and enough skilled and competent drivers to ensure a smooth commuting system in our town. Yours faithfully, Henry Jones
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter clearly identifies the shortage of buses and unreliable staffing, explains the resulting delays for local workers, and proposes additional vehicles and drivers. Its strongest feature is complete, direct coverage of the task, while the main weakness is strained sentence construction and some unsuitable wording, particularly the criticism based on drivers' age. Prioritise objective service-focused language and shorter paragraphs separating problems, effects, and remedies.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are developed with specific problems, practical consequences, and clear remedies in a generally suitable formal tone.
Describe missed shifts as a staffing or reliability problem rather than attributing performance directly to the drivers' age.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas progress logically from the complaint to causes, effects, and solutions, but the single dense body and several long sentences reduce readability.
Use separate paragraphs for service problems, their effects on commuters, and the requested action.
Lexical Resource
The response shows a reasonably broad range of complaint and transport vocabulary, though "transportations," "further complicated," and "smooth commuting system" are awkward.
Use natural terms such as "transport services," "to complicate matters further," and "a reliable bus service."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Several complex structures are effective, but faulty relative clauses, punctuation, and parallel construction remain noticeable.
Rewrite the opening resident sentence with a clear subject and make the final request parallel: "provide more buses and employ enough qualified drivers."
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
There have been some problems with the public transport you use to commute daily. Write a letter to the manager of the public transport company. In your letter:
- describe the problems
- explain how these problems are affecting you and others
- suggest what could be done about it
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.