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 understand that this is not the type of letter you would like to see from the commuters who use the transportations of your company, but I am left with no other choice but to write it. We, the local residents, of little lake Tahoma town are dealing with some frustrating problems with our public transportation system who use your transportation almost daily. Your company has only a few public buses in Lake Tahoma town even though it has a rather sizeable population, and those few buses are just not enough to transport users to their desired locations on time. To make things even further complicated, a couple of bus drivers have become a bit too old for their jobs, and as such, they fail to appear for their duties every once in a while, leaving many residents completely clueless about how or when they would reach their destinations. This is not an ideal situation, especially, for the people who have to go to their jobs daily. Therefore, I would like to request you to get some more public buses on our roads immediately, and enough skilled and competent drivers to ensure a smooth commuting system in our town. Yours faithfully, Henry Jones
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use uncountable transport Original: transportations of your company Suggested revision: transport services provided by your company Why it matters: Transportation is not normally plural, and services identifies the subject clearly.
- 2. Remove misplaced commas Original: We, the local residents, of Suggested revision: We, the local residents of Why it matters: The comma should not separate residents from its defining prepositional phrase.
- 3. Name town correctly Original: little lake Tahoma town Suggested revision: the small town of Lake Tahoma Why it matters: This is the natural form for describing and naming the town.
- 4. Use formal complaint term Original: frustrating Suggested revision: serious Why it matters: Serious is more objective in a formal complaint.
- 5. Use passenger term Original: transport users Suggested revision: passengers Why it matters: Passengers is the precise term for people travelling by bus.
- 6. Use natural destination term Original: desired locations Suggested revision: destinations Why it matters: Destinations expresses the same meaning more naturally.
- 7. Use comparative correctly Original: further Suggested revision: more Why it matters: More, not further, forms the comparison with complicated.
- 8. Focus on availability Original: a bit too old for their jobs Suggested revision: frequently unavailable for work Why it matters: The complaint should address the service problem rather than make an unsupported age-based judgement.
- 9. Use work collocation Original: appear for their duties Suggested revision: report for duty Why it matters: Report for duty is the standard expression.
- 10. Keep formal register Original: every once in a while Suggested revision: on a regular basis Why it matters: The revision is more appropriate for a formal service complaint.
- 11. Use formal description Original: completely clueless Suggested revision: uncertain Why it matters: Clueless is too informal for a letter to a transport manager.
- 12. Use present possibility Original: would Suggested revision: can Why it matters: Can matches the residents' recurring present difficulty.
Suggested Rewrites
- transportations of your company transport services provided by your company
- We, the local residents, of We, the local residents of
- little lake Tahoma town the small town of Lake Tahoma
- frustrating serious
- transport users passengers
- desired locations destinations
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter clearly identifies the shortage of buses and unreliable staffing, explains the resulting delays for local workers, and proposes additional vehicles and drivers. Its strongest feature is complete, direct coverage of the task, while the main weakness is strained sentence construction and some unsuitable wording, particularly the criticism based on drivers' age. Prioritise objective service-focused language and shorter paragraphs separating problems, effects, and remedies.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are developed with specific problems, practical consequences, and clear remedies in a generally suitable formal tone.
Describe missed shifts as a staffing or reliability problem rather than attributing performance directly to the drivers' age.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas progress logically from the complaint to causes, effects, and solutions, but the single dense body and several long sentences reduce readability.
Use separate paragraphs for service problems, their effects on commuters, and the requested action.
Lexical Resource
The response shows a reasonably broad range of complaint and transport vocabulary, though "transportations," "further complicated," and "smooth commuting system" are awkward.
Use natural terms such as "transport services," "to complicate matters further," and "a reliable bus service."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Several complex structures are effective, but faulty relative clauses, punctuation, and parallel construction remain noticeable.
Rewrite the opening resident sentence with a clear subject and make the final request parallel: "provide more buses and employ enough qualified drivers."
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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.