General Training Writing Task 1 · formal · complaint

Formal Letter Regarding Excessive Noise from Restaurant

You are living in an English-speaking country and the restaurant near you is making a lot of noise.

Write a letter to the restaurant owner. In your letter:

tell the restaurant owner to reduce the noise levels
suggest a solution to fix the problem
warn that if this problem remains not solved then further action will be taken

Write at least 150 words. You do not need to write any addresses. Begin your letter: Dear ...,

Band 8 sample letter

Dear Mr. Henderson,

I am a local resident living in the apartment directly above your establishment, The Golden Bistro. I am writing to formally address the ongoing issue of excessive noise emanating from your premises during late-night hours.

Over the past three weeks, the volume of music and the shouting of patrons on your terrace have become intolerable, frequently continuing well past midnight. This level of disturbance has significantly disrupted my sleep and my ability to work from home. I must request that you take immediate steps to reduce these noise levels to ensure they remain within reasonable limits for a residential area.

To resolve this, I suggest that you implement a policy requiring guests to move indoors after 10:00 p.m. and install sound-dampening acoustic panels on your outdoor terrace walls. These measures would likely mitigate the sound leakage that currently impacts the neighbouring flats.

Please be advised that if the situation does not improve significantly within the next week, I will have no choice but to escalate this matter by filing a formal report with the local environmental health department. I hope we can resolve this matter amicably without further involvement.

Yours sincerely,

Arthur Penhaligon

196 words. Names and details are invented; write your own.

Why this scores well

A Band 8 response maintains a consistently formal tone while addressing all bullet points with specific, actionable suggestions. The most common mistake for Band 6 candidates is using overly aggressive or emotive language, which fails to maintain the professional, objective tone required for a formal complaint.

Write to an organisation or someone you do not know: open with Dear Sir or Madam, close with Yours faithfully.
If you know the person's surname, use Dear Mr or Ms and close with Yours sincerely.
No contractions, no slang; polite indirect requests such as I would be grateful if you could.

Useful phrases from the letter

emanating: issuing or spreading out from a source
intolerable: unable to be endured or tolerated
mitigate: make less severe, serious, or painful
escalate: increase the intensity or seriousness of something
amicably: in a friendly and peaceable manner
premises: a house or building together with its land

Write your own and get a band

Answer this prompt in a timed General Training writing test and get a band for task achievement, coherence, vocabulary and grammar, with the sentences to fix.

Practise IELTS General writing

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Frequently asked questions

Is this letter formal or informal?

Formal. Write to an organisation or someone you do not know: open with Dear Sir or Madam, close with Yours faithfully.

How long should an IELTS General Training letter be?

At least 150 words, and 160 to 200 is the comfortable range. Spend about 20 minutes on it and leave 40 for Task 2, which carries twice the marks.