Your car was hired from a company and while you were driving on holiday, you had a small accident. You will have to write a report to the company to explain it. Write a letter to the company. In your letter, you need to explain the following: - when and where you hired the car - describe how the accident happened - what kind of action you took after the accident
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I have hired a Toyota Altis car on 17th August from your head office located at Serangoon, for a period of 15 days. The registration number of the car is SGT 2345D. I am writing to inform you that I have been involved in a minor accident earlier today that caused some damages to the car. I was on my way to my office and at the Raffle city junction, a car from the opposite direction tried to cross the signal when it was red. Due to his rash driving, his vehicle slightly touched the right side of my car. I tried my best to avoid it, but could not help much. The driver side's rear-view mirror broke and also led to some scratches on the right side of the car. I reported the incident to the on-duty police and he lodged a complaint and informed the other driver's insurance company. I am attaching the police report to this letter so that you can review what really happened and claim the insurance for the repair costs. But I replaced the rearview mirror from the service station as it is very necessary for driving. I am ready to cooperate regarding this and if you need any further information, I am available at 98765678. Yours faithfully, Ankit Gupta
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use the simple past Original: I have hired Suggested revision: I hired Why it matters: The completed hire on a stated past date requires the simple past.
- 2. Use formal date style Original: 17th Suggested revision: 17 Why it matters: Formal British date style normally omits the ordinal ending in written correspondence.
- 3. Use a concise location Original: head office located at Serangoon Suggested revision: head office in Serangoon Why it matters: “In Serangoon” states the office location directly and naturally.
- 4. Use the simple past Original: I have been involved Suggested revision: I was involved Why it matters: The accident occurred at a completed time earlier today, so the simple past is appropriate.
- 5. Use the uncountable noun Original: damages Suggested revision: damage Why it matters: “Damage” is uncountable when referring generally to harm to the car.
- 6. Capitalise the place name Original: city Suggested revision: City Why it matters: Both words in the stated proper place name require capital letters.
- 7. Use concise wording Original: a car from the opposite direction Suggested revision: an oncoming car Why it matters: “Oncoming car” precisely describes a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction.
- 8. Correct the collocation Original: signal Suggested revision: junction Why it matters: A vehicle crosses a junction rather than a traffic signal.
- 9. Name the violation clearly Original: when it was red Suggested revision: against the red light Why it matters: “Against the red light” clearly states that the other driver proceeded unlawfully.
- 10. Avoid an unclear pronoun Original: Due to his rash driving Suggested revision: Because of the other driver's reckless driving Why it matters: Naming the other driver removes ambiguity and uses a more natural description of the behaviour.
- 11. Use an accident verb Original: slightly touched Suggested revision: clipped Why it matters: “Clipped” accurately describes a minor collision with the side of another car.
- 12. Correct the insurance phrase Original: claim the insurance Suggested revision: file an insurance claim Why it matters: The standard action is to file an insurance claim for repair costs.
Suggested Rewrites
- I have hired I hired
- 17th 17
- head office located at Serangoon head office in Serangoon
- I have been involved I was involved
- damages damage
- city City
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter gives a clear chronological account of the collision and provides useful rental, damage, police, and repair details in an appropriately formal register. The main limitation is the inconsistency between the stated holiday context and the claim that the writer was travelling to work, alongside several imprecise or awkward expressions. The highest priority is to keep the scenario consistent and edit collocations and sentence structure for greater accuracy.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three required points are covered with relevant detail, but travelling to the office conflicts with the prompt's holiday context.
Keep the circumstances consistent with the task by explaining where the writer was going while on holiday when the accident occurred.
Coherence and Cohesion
The account progresses clearly from the hire details through the accident and damage to the actions taken afterward.
Divide the letter into focused paragraphs for the rental, the accident, and the follow-up actions to make the sequence even easier to follow.
Lexical Resource
The response uses relevant vocabulary for accidents, insurance, and repairs, but several choices are awkward or imprecise.
Use natural phrases such as 'damage to the car,' 'the driver's-side mirror,' and 'had the mirror replaced at a service station.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the account clearly, although tense, article, possessive, and sentence-construction errors recur.
Proofread past-tense narration and revise faulty structures so that the other car, rather than the broken mirror, clearly causes the scratches.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your car was hired from a company and while you were driving on holiday, you had a small accident. You will have to write a report to the company to explain it. Write a letter to the company. In your letter, you need to explain the following:
- when and where you hired the car
- describe how the accident happened
- what kind of action you took after the accident
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.