The local council is planning to close a football ground down near you because it is in disrepair. You and other residents disagree with this and want them to keep it. Write a letter to the council. In your letter: - Explain why the football ground is not being used - Explain why the ground is important - Explain the wider benefits
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,Dear Ma, My name is Mercy Uti, and I am a resident of the community nearwith the football ground you want to close down. The reason the football ground is not being used as oftenas often, is due to itsit’s poor and unsanitaryhorrendous and unclean condition. There are really thick weeds in the surroundings and this could be a suitable habitatcomfortable spot for reptiles to live in. There is alsoThere’s also, a burstbusted pipe in the corner and this causes constant water leakageconstant spillage in the area and makes the ground very slippery too. The football ground was created to serve as a rehabilitation centrecreated to help as a rehabilitation center for teenagers and childrenthe teenagers and children in that area who werearea, who were going through rough times at home and in school. We have heard of success stories of children who became professional footballers from training in that playground. Refurbishment and regular maintenanceRefurbishing and frequent maintenance of the football ground will encourage more people to use the groundwill attract an increase in people using the ground (both residents and non-residents)(resident and non resident). This, in turn, willThis will in turn, reduce crimecrimes in our community and near by communities as well.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The letter’s strongest feature is its relevant, concrete explanation of the ground’s poor condition and value to local young people. Its main limitation is that the request to keep the ground open is only implied, while the salutation and absence of a closing weaken the formal letter format. The highest priority is to state the requested action directly and organise the three purposes into clear paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response addresses all three bullet points with relevant reasons, examples, and wider community benefits, but the desired council action and formal conventions are insufficiently explicit.
Add a direct request for the council to retain and refurbish the ground, with an appropriate formal salutation and closing.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from the ground’s condition to its social importance and wider benefits, although they are presented as one continuous block.
Separate the opening, each main purpose, and the request into distinct paragraphs to make the progression easier to follow.
Lexical Resource
The letter uses an adequate range of relevant vocabulary, including terms such as rehabilitation, refurbishing, and maintenance, despite several awkward or inaccurate choices.
Improve collocational precision by using natural phrases such as overgrown weeds, leaking pipe, local residents, and nearby communities.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the message clearly, but punctuation, possessive forms, articles, and agreement are not consistently controlled.
Proofread sentence boundaries and recurring forms, especially its versus it’s, unnecessary commas, and singular or plural noun agreement.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
The local council is planning to close a football ground down near you because it is in disrepair. You and other residents disagree with this and want them to keep it. Write a letter to the council. In your letter:
- Explain why the football ground is not being used
- Explain why the ground is important
- Explain the wider benefits
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.