Letter to Newspaper Editor About Town Centres

You have just read an article in a national newspaper which claims that town centres in your country all look very similar to each other. You don’t fully agree with this opinion. Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper. In your letter • say which points in the article you agree with • explain ways in which your town centre is different from most other town centres • offer to give a guided tour of your town to the writer of the article You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Sir or Madam,

Annotated response

6 correction notes

Showing 6 correction notes.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I recently read the the December 10 th edition of your newspaper and I would like to offer my thoughts on this prickly issue.

First of all, I concede that there is some truth to the claim. In the past, town centres were dominated by chain shops that varied little from one place to the next, and now sadly the economic downturn has meant that town centres are often blighted by boarded-up windows and empty shopfronts. In this respect, they did and still do look rather similar.

However, it is not true of all town centres and I disagree that St. Andrews, where I live, is like the others. As you will surely be aware, most of our towns are ancient and built to unique specifications and, whilst modernity has brought some conformity, there is an architectural difference from one town to the next. My hometown has buildings and walls almost a thousand years old that could not be mistaken for any other town, with a cathedral and castle that are known across the country for their .

If your writer wishes to visit and reflect upon their that all our towns look alike, I would be more than happy to show them around and change their opinion.

David Wills

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 8.0

The letter fully achieves its purpose, addressing all three bullet points with a consistently appropriate formal register and well-developed, specific detail about the town's uniqueness. The language is flexible and largely precise, with only occasional slightly awkward word choices such as 'prickly issue' and 'trite assumption'. Paragraphing and progression are clear throughout, making this a polished, persuasive response.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

Task Achievement

8.0

The letter directly covers all three bullet points—partial agreement with the article, detailed explanation of St Andrews' distinctiveness, and a clear offer of a guided tour—in an appropriately formal tone for an editor.

Coherence and Cohesion

8.0

Ideas are logically organised into agreement, disagreement, and offer, with effective cohesive devices such as 'First of all', 'However', and 'In this respect' supporting clear progression.

Lexical Resource

8.0

Vocabulary is flexible and largely precise, using natural collocations like 'blighted by boarded-up windows' and 'economic downturn', with only occasional slightly imprecise choices.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

8.0

A wide range of complex structures, including relative clauses and concessive constructions, is used with consistent accuracy and punctuation control throughout the response.