You have an extra room in your apartment and would like to rent it out to a student. Write a letter to the university council officer. In your letter: - describe your apartment and the facilities available - mention why you want to rent out the room - say what kind of tenant you would prefer
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am Nathan Adam, a mathematics major at Aura Vincent University. I want to rent out a spare room in my apartment and need your help regarding this. I want to rent out a room at the Central Library Road, Okalum Berry, AV -14. The apartment is on the 7th floor and has a lift, Wi-Fi internet connection, water heater facilities and an electric cooker. The room is fully furnished and has an attached bathroom. I have a tenant agreement with the flat owner, and I have to pay 200 dollars per week. The apartment has three rooms and one room is completely vacant. I have decided to sublease the room to someone who would share the rent. Moreover, a student from my university would be a good companion for me. The student who is interested in occupying the room should be a science major. He or she should get in for at least six months and pay two months' advance payment. I am looking for someone who is serious about the study and has a good academic track. I am really looking forward to getting your help to rent out the room to a suitable student from our university. Yours faithfully, Nathan Adam
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Introduce yourself naturally Original: I am Nathan Adam Suggested revision: My name is Nathan Adam Why it matters: My name is is the more natural form for introducing yourself in a formal letter.
- 2. Use natural preposition Original: help regarding this Suggested revision: help with this matter Why it matters: Help with is the standard collocation in this context.
- 3. Correct address preposition Original: at the Central Library Road Suggested revision: on Central Library Road Why it matters: On is the appropriate preposition for a street address, and the road name needs no article.
- 4. Remove spacing error Original: AV -14 Suggested revision: AV-14 Why it matters: A hyphen in an address code should not have a space before it.
- 5. Spell out ordinal Original: 7th Suggested revision: seventh Why it matters: Spelling out the short ordinal gives the formal letter a more polished style.
- 6. Remove redundant term Original: Wi-Fi internet connection Suggested revision: Wi-Fi connection Why it matters: Wi-Fi already denotes an internet connection, so internet is redundant.
- 7. Name facility naturally Original: water heater facilities Suggested revision: hot water Why it matters: Hot water is the natural way to describe this apartment facility.
- 8. Use correct agreement term Original: tenant Suggested revision: tenancy Why it matters: Tenancy agreement is the standard term for a rental contract.
- 9. Use precise role Original: flat owner Suggested revision: landlord Why it matters: Landlord is the conventional term for the owner from whom a property is rented.
- 10. Format the rent clearly Original: 200 dollars Suggested revision: $200 Why it matters: The currency symbol presents the weekly rent more concisely.
- 11. Remove redundant modifier Original: completely vacant Suggested revision: vacant Why it matters: Vacant already means completely unoccupied.
- 12. Name tenant directly Original: someone who would share the rent Suggested revision: a tenant who would share the rent Why it matters: Tenant identifies the intended occupant more precisely than someone.
Suggested Rewrites
- I am Nathan Adam My name is Nathan Adam
- help regarding this help with this matter
- at the Central Library Road on Central Library Road
- AV -14 AV-14
- 7th seventh
- Wi-Fi internet connection Wi-Fi connection
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response's strongest feature is its thorough coverage of the apartment, available facilities, financial and social reasons for subletting, and preferred tenant profile. Its main limitation is language precision: several tenancy expressions are unnatural, and the one-paragraph presentation makes the detailed conditions less easy to scan. The highest-priority improvement is to organise the description, reason, and tenant requirements separately while using standard rental vocabulary.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully and specifically addressed in an appropriate formal request to the university officer.
Clarify whether subletting is permitted under the existing tenancy agreement and state the total rent expected from the new tenant.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a logical order from property details to reasons and tenant preferences, but the entire body is presented as one dense paragraph.
Use separate paragraphs for the apartment, the reason for renting, and the preferred tenant and conditions.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary covers housing and tenancy needs adequately, but phrases such as "get in for," "advance payment," and "academic track" are unnatural in context.
Use standard expressions such as "commit to at least six months," "pay two months' rent in advance," and "strong academic record."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex sentences is generally controlled, though article, preposition, and noun-phrase errors appear intermittently.
Proofread location and tenancy phrases, including "on Central Library Road," "a water heater," and "serious about their studies."
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have an extra room in your apartment and would like to rent it out to a student. Write a letter to the university council officer. In your letter:
- describe your apartment and the facilities available
- mention why you want to rent out the room
- say what kind of tenant you would prefer
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.