You are unhappy about a plan to make your local airport bigger and increase the number of flights. You live near the airport. Write a letter to your local newspaper. In your letter: - explain where you live - describe the problem - give reasons why you do not want this development
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to express my disagreement with the decision to expand Miami International Airportthe Miami International Airport as it has many detrimental consequences. My home is situated on Callos Streetstreet - next to the airport, and I am hope that you will publishhoping that you would publish an editorial to protest the development. The residents are constantly confronted with the noise and vibrationnoise and turbulence problems, created by the flights arriving at and departing from the airportarriving and departing the airport. This is a significant issue as a major part of our population comprises young school children. The nuisance does not allow the older residentsold people a peaceful night either. Moreover, the commotion caused by flights sometimesthe flight sometimes results in cracks or even broken glass doors and householdhouse cabinets. Given this situationNow given the situation, I believe that Miami is not among the leading airportsfront line airports of the country and there is a restriction imposed by the government on the number of flights operated daily. I would like to appeal to the president to halt this planplea to the president an obstruction on this plan because an expansion of the airport will aggravate the problems in our community. An increase in the number of flights will cause more noise and vibrationturbulence and nuisance, which is inevitableexplicit. I am not against any development in our country and I believe it would be ideal if the airport authoritiesthe authority could come up with an alternativealternate approach to this issue. For these reasonsLast but not least, I would request your newspapereditorial section to publish a report on this urgentmoot issue. In anticipation of your favourable action. Yours faithfully, Jones Nathan
Why this response received Band 6.5
The letter has a clear purpose, addresses each bullet point, and gives several concrete effects of the proposed airport expansion. Its main limitation is imprecise phrasing, especially when discussing government restrictions and the requested intervention, while the single-block organisation weakens readability. The highest priority is to express the requested action directly and divide the supporting reasons into purposeful paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are covered, and the objections are developed with relevant community impacts.
State the action sought from the newspaper more directly and remove the unclear reference to appealing to the president.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress from location and current problems to objections and a final request, but the entire body is presented as one dense block.
Use separate paragraphs for the local problems, reasons against expansion, and requested newspaper action.
Lexical Resource
The letter shows a good range of formal and topic-specific vocabulary, though several combinations such as turbulence problems and plea an obstruction are unnatural or unclear.
Prioritise precise, natural collocations, such as aircraft noise, structural damage, and oppose the expansion plan.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A variety of complex structures is used and meaning is generally clear, although awkward constructions and a final sentence fragment reduce control.
Correct verb patterns and sentence boundaries, especially the appeal sentence and the fragment beginning In anticipation.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are unhappy about a plan to make your local airport bigger and increase the number of flights. You live near the airport. Write a letter to your local newspaper. In your letter:
- explain where you live
- describe the problem
- give reasons why you do not want this development
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.