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 take your buses to travel to and from my office on weekdays. I am writing to bring to your attention a few critical issues inflicted upon me and other commuters who use your service. I am hoping you would address these issues promptly. First, during the last couple of weeks, your buses are making recurring delays and this is affecting our arrival at our workplaces on time. To add more grief, a few buses do not arrive at all. A number of times, I had to wait for more than an hour and then hail a taxi to reach my office. Finally, some buses are full when they arrive, and as a result, cannot take any more passengers from the Victoria Bus Stand. This situation forces me and many other travellers to either take the congested bus and stand all the way in 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 transport to accommodate the passengers and manage the timetable rigidly. Thank you for giving the matter your attention, and I hope to hear your reply soon. Yours faithfully, John Andrews
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Break after greeting Original: Dear Sir or Madam, I Suggested revision: Dear Sir or Madam, I Why it matters: The letter body should begin on a new line after the salutation.
- 2. Use buses naturally Original: take Suggested revision: use Why it matters: Passengers “use” a bus service rather than “take buses to travel.”
- 3. Use natural complaint wording Original: critical issues inflicted upon me and other commuters Suggested revision: serious problems affecting me and other commuters Why it matters: Problems affect commuters; they are not naturally described as being inflicted upon them here.
- 4. Use direct tense Original: I am hoping you would address Suggested revision: I hope you will address Why it matters: The present hope about future action requires “hope” with “will.”
- 5. Use over Original: during Suggested revision: over Why it matters: “Over” is the natural preposition for an ongoing period continuing to the present.
- 6. Describe repeated delays Original: buses are making recurring delays Suggested revision: buses have been repeatedly delayed Why it matters: Buses experience delays; they do not “make” them.
- 7. Clarify lateness effect Original: this is affecting our arrival at our workplaces on time Suggested revision: this is preventing us from arriving at work on time Why it matters: The revision uses the correct verb pattern and states the effect directly.
- 8. Use standard transition Original: To add more grief Suggested revision: To make matters worse Why it matters: This fixed expression naturally introduces an additional problem.
- 9. Use precise frequency Original: A number of times Suggested revision: On several occasions Why it matters: This phrase is more natural in a formal complaint.
- 10. Use present perfect Original: I had to wait Suggested revision: I have had to wait Why it matters: The present perfect links repeated recent experiences to the current complaint.
- 11. Use get to work Original: reach my office Suggested revision: get to work Why it matters: “Get to work” is the natural phrase for arriving at one's workplace.
- 12. Use at Original: from Suggested revision: at Why it matters: Waiting passengers are located “at” a bus stand.
Suggested Rewrites
- Dear Sir or Madam, I Dear Sir or Madam, I
- take use
- critical issues inflicted upon me and other commuters serious problems affecting me and other commuters
- I am hoping you would address I hope you will address
- during over
- buses are making recurring delays buses have been repeatedly delayed
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
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
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.