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 am a regular user of your transportation service and usetake your buses to travel to and from my office on weekdays. I am writing to bring to your attention a few serious problems affecting me and other commuterscritical issues inflicted upon me and other commuters who use your service. I hope you will addressI am hoping you would address these issues promptly. First, overduring the last couple of weeks, your buses have been repeatedly delayedbuses are making recurring delays and this is preventing us from arriving at work on timethis is affecting our arrival at our workplaces on time. To make matters worseTo add more grief, a few buses do not arrive at all. On several occasionsA number of times, I have had to waitI had to wait for more than an hour and then hail a taxi to get to workreach my office. Finally, some buses are full when they arrive, and as a result, cannot take any more passengers atfrom the Victoria Bus Stand. This situation forces me and many other travellers to either take the overcrowdedcongested bus and stand for the entire journeystand all the way in uncomfortable conditionsin a miserable condition or wait for the next bus. I believe if this keeps happening, it would reduce people's trust in your service. I suggest that you add a few more busestransport to accommodate the passengers and follow the timetable consistentlymanage the timetable rigidly. Thank you for giving the matter your attention, and I hope to hear from you soonhear your reply soon. Yours faithfully, John Andrews
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter addresses every required point with relevant examples of delays, cancellations, and overcrowding, and it maintains an appropriately firm but courteous tone throughout. Its main weakness is linguistic polish: awkward collocations, tense choices, and the one-block presentation make an otherwise effective complaint less professional. Separate the problems, effects, and proposed solutions into clear paragraphs and replace unnatural phrases with standard transport-service language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all three bullet points are fully covered with specific consequences, and the formal complaint tone is consistently appropriate.
Make the proposed remedy still more actionable by specifying the routes, peak periods, or service frequency that should be reviewed.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter follows a logical progression from problems to effects and solutions, but the single dense paragraph and mechanical sequencing reduce structural clarity.
Use separate paragraphs for the service failures, their impact on commuters, and the requested corrective action.
Lexical Resource
A sufficient range of transport and complaint vocabulary is used, though several inaccurate collocations make parts sound unnatural.
Use standard phrases such as buses are repeatedly delayed, make matters worse, add more buses, and enforce the timetable.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied sentence forms convey the message clearly, but tense selection, modal use, and countable-noun forms show recurring lapses.
Keep the recent problems in a consistent tense, use hope you will for the request, and write buses rather than transport when counting vehicles.
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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.