You were hurt in a minor accident inside a supermarket, and you wish to complain to the supermarket. Write a letter to the manager of the supermarket. In your letter: - say who you are - give details about the accident - suggest how the supermarket could prevent similar accidents
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am a regular customer of your renowned supermarket 'Meena Bazar'. Today I am writing to you regarding a minor accident I hadminor accident that I faced while visiting your supermarket on 28th November. I hope you will takeI am hoping that you would take the necessary measures so that it does not happen to any other shopper. I am Shadia Rahman, a resident of the Banani area and a loyal customer of your shop for more than three3 years. I am a lecturer at a private university and often shop theredo my shopping at your mart. Unfortunately,It is a matter of regret that during my last visit to your Banani branch, I found the frozen food area completely wet and slippery. I guess it might have happened due to the faulty refrigeration systeminactive freezing system or any kind of technical issue. Also, the delayed cleaninglethargic housekeeping was responsible for it. Unfortunately, I slippedslipped my footstep while passing that area because I did not know the floor was wetsince I did not have any idea in this regard. Although I suffered only a minor injuryhad managed with a small injury, it could have been fatal. I have noticed that many elderly people shopI noticed many elderly people shop at your supermarket and it is quite unacceptable to have such an area that can possibly cause harm to people. I believe, Meena Bazar's management hasMeena Bazar authority is having the best management individuals like you and you would take appropriate action after being notifiedtake proper actions after getting it notified. Therefore, in the consideration of its goodwill, you should be more attentive regarding all kinds of safety issues like this. I recommend you to monitor all electronic devices more frequently with professional bodies. Also, you should take the necessary steps to hire a highly skilled and proactive cleaning team. I hope this matter deserves your promptsound attention. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Yours faithfully, Shadia Rahman
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully addresses the complaint, identifies the writer, explains the accident, and offers practical preventive measures in an appropriately formal tone. Its main limitation is frequent unnatural wording and collocation, which sometimes makes otherwise clear ideas sound strained; the highest-priority improvement is to replace elaborate but inaccurate phrases with simpler, idiomatic language while separating the content into clear paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are fully addressed, and the formal complaint is developed with relevant detail.
Make the requested action even more precise by explicitly asking the manager to inspect the freezer and introduce immediate warning signs.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information progresses logically from purpose and identity through the accident to recommendations, although the response is presented as one long paragraph.
Use separate paragraphs for the introduction, accident details, and proposed preventive measures to make the progression easier to scan.
Lexical Resource
The letter shows a broad vocabulary, but recurring awkward collocations such as 'slipped my footstep' and 'sound attention' reduce precision and naturalness.
Prefer accurate everyday combinations such as 'slipped on the wet floor' and 'give this matter your urgent attention'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex structures is attempted, and meaning remains clear despite recurring problems with articles, agreement, prepositions, and verb patterns.
Review verb patterns and noun agreement, especially constructions such as 'recommend that you monitor' rather than 'recommend you to monitor'.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You were hurt in a minor accident inside a supermarket, and you wish to complain to the supermarket. Write a letter to the manager of the supermarket. In your letter:
- say who you are
- give details about the accident
- suggest how the supermarket could prevent similar accidents
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.