Write a letter to the Mayor, the head of a municipal government, about a situation in which some adolescents let their dogs run wildly. In your letter: - describe how the adolescents let their dogs run wild - explain why this creates a dangerous situation - complain about the situation
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing this letter in order to drawbring your attention to an important issue which our neighbourhood is currently facing. For quite some time, we have been noticing with great concern that some young boys of about 12 to 15 years of age from our area are allowing their dogs to run wildly in our neighbourhood. Initially, it was not a matter of greatbig concern, but graduallyslowly and slowly, this is becoming dangerous as the dogs are frequently coming into contact with the community members, which is not safe. In fact, the situation has become so dangerous and scary for some of our good neighbours that they are even afraid to come out of their homes sometimes because of these freely-roaming dogs. Some of the members of our community have already spokentalked to the parents of these boys, but, unfortunately, the situation has not improvedhas not exactly changed much in our favour. In view of this dangerous situation, which is prevailing in our neighbourhood, I urge you to take the necessary stepsI would like you to please take some necessary steps to bring these adolescent boys and their dogs under control before a serious accident occurssome serious accidents take place. Yours faithfully, Jon Garson
Why this response received Band 7.0
The complaint has a clear purpose, an appropriately formal tone, and a logical movement from describing the problem to requesting municipal action. However, the danger is explained in rather general terms and several words and ideas are repeated; the best improvement would be to add one concrete example of risky behaviour while using more precise, less repetitive vocabulary.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are addressed and the requested action is clear, although the explanation of the danger remains somewhat general.
Include a concrete example, such as a dog chasing a child or approaching traffic, to demonstrate the specific risk.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically from the complaint and background to consequences and a request, but the single-block presentation and repetition weaken cohesion.
Use separate paragraphs for the situation, its dangers, previous action, and the requested solution.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient formal vocabulary for the complaint, but repetition and awkward phrases such as ‘slowly and slowly’ and ‘in our favour’ limit precision.
Replace repeated general words with exact alternatives and use natural phrases such as ‘gradually’ and ‘the problem has persisted’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex sentences is used with generally accurate control, although some clauses are overloaded and punctuation is occasionally awkward.
Break the longest sentences into cleaner units and review comma placement around linking expressions.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Write a letter to the Mayor, the head of a municipal government, about a situation in which some adolescents let their dogs run wildly. In your letter:
- describe how the adolescents let their dogs run wild
- explain why this creates a dangerous situation
- complain about the situation
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.