There is a problem with the changing rooms in the sports centre that you visit. You have complained several times but with no success. Write a letter to the manager of the sports centre. In your letter: - Describe what the problem with the changing rooms is - Say what happened the last times you complained - Explain what you want the manager to do
Sample Response
Dear Mrs. Aura,
I am writing to complainwriting this letter to you to complain about the changing rooms at the sports centrechanging rooms in the gym. The door locks of the stalls have holes which are big enough for people from outside to peep into if they want to. This makes me extremely uncomfortable every time I get changed as I feel like my privacy could be violatedprivacy can be invaded at any moment.
Prior to this letter I have sent out five more emails but received no response. I believe this is too serious an issuetoo serious of an issue to be ignored and I am left with no other option but to terminate my gym membership if this problem persists.
I sincerely hope you can looksee into this problem. A good solution would be to replace all the locks with more secure ones and ensuremake sure that the changing stalls are completely enclosed and private.
I look forwardI am looking forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely, [Your name]Yours sincerely,
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter communicates the complaint efficiently, explaining the privacy problem, the unanswered emails, and the requested repairs in a clear formal structure. The principal weakness is a small set of awkward word choices and one tense lapse, which slightly reduce precision despite the consistently clear meaning. The highest-priority improvement is to use standard complaint-letter collocations and more accurate time reference.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The complaint has a clear purpose, covers all three points directly, and maintains an appropriately firm and polite tone.
Develop the account of the earlier complaints slightly by adding when they were sent or whether any acknowledgement was received.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is logically organised into the problem, previous action, requested remedy, and closing, with clear progression.
Use a brief linking phrase between the unanswered complaints and the proposed solution to make the progression even smoother.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficiently varied and generally precise, but phrases such as 'sent out five more emails' and 'see into this problem' are awkward.
Use established collocations such as 'sent five previous emails' and 'look into this matter' for greater naturalness.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses varied sentence structures with good control, though 'Prior to this letter I have sent' contains an inaccurate tense choice.
Use the past perfect or simple past when describing complaints made before the present letter, and add the comma after the introductory phrase.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
There is a problem with the changing rooms in the sports centre that you visit. You have complained several times but with no success. Write a letter to the manager of the sports centre. In your letter:
- Describe what the problem with the changing rooms is
- Say what happened the last times you complained
- Explain what you want the manager to do
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.