You recently stayed in a hotel in a large city. The weather was very unusual for the time of year and the heating/cooling system in the hotel was quite inadequate. Write a letter to the manager of the hotel. In your letter: - give details of what was wrong - explain what you had to do to overcome the problem at the time - say what action you would like the manager to take
Sample Essay with Corrections
Expert Feedback
The letter effectively addresses the task requirements by detailing the issues with the heating system, explaining the actions taken to cope with the problem, and requesting specific actions from the manager. Key strengths include a clear identification of the problem and a polite request for resolution. However, critical areas for improvement include enhancing the formality of the tone and improving grammatical accuracy. Structural changes made include separating the issues and requests into distinct paragraphs for better clarity and coherence. Suggestions for further improvements not implemented in the corrected version include varying the vocabulary further to avoid repetition and using more sophisticated phrases. The tone used is generally appropriate, but a more formal approach could enhance the overall professionalism of the letter.
Detailed Scores
What this means:
The letter generally flows well, but there are some areas where coherence could be improved. For example, the transition between describing the problem and the actions taken could be smoother. Using more cohesive devices, such as 'Furthermore' or 'In addition,' would enhance the clarity of the progression of ideas.
How to improve:
- Use a clear paragraph structure
- Connect ideas with appropriate linking words
- Maintain logical progression
- Use referencing effectively
What this means:
There are several grammatical errors, including incorrect verb forms ('try' should be 'tried') and issues with subject-verb agreement ('the heating system was not working proper' should be 'properly'). These errors affect the overall clarity of the writing. However, the writer demonstrates some range in sentence structures, which helps convey the message.
How to improve:
- Use complex sentence structures
- Maintain grammatical accuracy
- Use a variety of sentence patterns
- Check for common grammar errors
What this means:
The vocabulary used is mostly appropriate, but there are some errors, such as 'complaint' instead of 'complain' and 'whether' instead of 'weather.' Additionally, phrases like 'big city' could be replaced with more sophisticated alternatives, such as 'metropolitan area.' There is some repetition of words like 'room' and 'heating,' which could be varied for better lexical range.
How to improve:
- Use a wider range of vocabulary
- Demonstrate awareness of collocations
- Avoid word repetition
- Use more sophisticated vocabulary accurately
What this means:
The letter addresses the task requirements by detailing the issues with the heating system, explaining the actions taken to cope with the problem, and requesting specific actions from the manager. However, the tone could be more formal, and the letter could benefit from a clearer structure, such as separating the issues and requests into distinct paragraphs.
How to improve:
- Address all parts of the task fully
- Support ideas with specific examples
- Develop each point thoroughly
- Stay relevant to the topic
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