WRITING

LESSON 1
VOCABULARY TO DESCRIBE TRENDS TENSES
HOW TO BUILD A SENTENCE
DESCRIBING DYNAMIC CHARTS
 LESSON 1
OBJECTIVES:
• Essential vocabularies which are often used to describe
dynamic graphs with trends (changes overtime) in IELTS
Writing task 1.
 Forms of some common tenses for describing dynamic
charts
 A detailed instruction about common sentence structures that
help you write basic and expanded sentences in Writing
 Correct vocabularies and grammar for a line graph or bar
chart with time.
 OVERVIEW
• Dynamic graphs that show trends over the period of time: line
graphs and bar charts.
• Examples:
- The graph below shows the number of visitors to three
museums between 2000 and 2005.
- The graph below shows the popularity of holiday types since the
year 1990 and predicted time up to 2020.
- The line graph below gives information about the number of
visitors to three London museums between June and
September 2013.
- The line graph shows the past and projected finances for a local
authority in New Zealand
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
A. VOCABULARY
1. Languages to describe changes
Going up Going down
• Rise • Decrease
• Increase • Fall
• Go up • Drop
• Grow • Decline

No change Up and down

• Stay the same • fluctuate
• Remain • vary
unchanged/stable • recover
• Level off/out • return
• Stabilize
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Exercise 1: Complete the table with the correct simple past forms
INFINITIVE PAST SIMPLE NOUN
Rise rose rise (n)
Increase increased increase (n)
Go up went up
Grow grew growth (n)
Decrease decreased decrease (n)
Fall fell fall (n)
Drop dropped drop (n)
Decline declined decline (n)
Stabilize stabilized stability (n)
Fluctuate fluctuated fluctuation (n)
Recover
recovered recovery (n)
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
2. ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS
You can describe changes by using adjectives and adverbs as follows
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
3. TIME EXPRESSION

There are some useful time expressions as follows:

• in (1995)/ in the first (five years)
• for (three years)
• over the next/ following...(five years) / over the period/
through the year
• from ... to/ between... and (from June to August... between
June and August...)
• during (during the first three months...)
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
3. TIME EXPRESSION

Sales rose gradually through the Sales fluctuated from January

year. to June, and then leveled off
over the period.
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
B. GRAMMAR
S+ VERB (S/ES)
Ex:
- The graph shows…, we can see…
- The percentage of visitors to Australia increases each year and becomes
the highest. Use the Past simple tense to describe if the graph refers to
the past period of time.
S+ VERB (ED)
Ex:
- The number of visitors to museum decreased slightly in 2018.
Use the Present Perfect to describe the graph if there is a connection
between the past and the present.
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT B. GRAMMAR
 S+ HAS/HAVE+ PAST PARTICIPLE 1. Dates and tenses
Ex:
- The use of the Internet has risen enormously since the 1990s.
Use the Simple Future tense to describe or make predictions for
future events/ things if the graph includes future times.
 S+ WILL+ VERB
Ex:
- It is predicted that the number of people using the internet will increase in
the next ten years.
Use the Future perfect tense to state that a particular category in the
graph will change by a particular time in the future.
 S+ WILL HAVE+ PAST PARTICIPLE
Ex: The amount of borrowings in New Zealand will have reduced 700 million
USA by 2020
Exercise 2: The table shows what the class of 2009 did after they left
school. Use the correct number and verb tenses to fill the sentences below.

1. Fourteen
………..girls…………… went (go) to university after leaving school.
2. Two started
……girls……………(start) college.
3. Five
………..boys Eight started
and………..girls………..(start) work straight after school.
4. 35
..............school continued
leavers………………..(continue) studying after leaving
school.
13
5. Only………..school didn’t go
leavers………………. (not go) to university or
college.
Nine
6. ……….school decided (decide) to go to college.
leavers………….
Exercise 3: Look at the chart and fill in the gaps with the past simple and
present perfect simple of the verbs in brackets to complete the sentences.
1. The chart shows the percentage of British
have used
adults who ……………….(use) the Internet
since 1995.
2. The number of women who have ever used
has increased (increase) by
the Internet…………………..
more than 60% since 1995.
3. The percentage of men who have accessed
the Internet……………….
rose (rise) to 60% in
2005.
4. The number of women to have accessed the Internet…………….has risen (rise) each year.
5. The percentage of men who used the Internet……………..was (be) greater than the
percentage of women from 1995 to 2005.
6. However, British women……………… (overtake) British men in Internet usage since
have overtaken
2005.
has grown (grow) each year
7. The total number of people accessing the Internet……………..
although the most significant rise…………………..
occurred (occur) between 1995 and 2000.
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT B. GRAMMAR
2. Sentence structure
Two basic structures that can frequently be used to describe changes
of dynamic graphs
❖ (Time)+ Subject+ Verb + Adverb
- From 1890 to 2006, the rate increased dramatically.
- The consumption of chocolate fell steadily.
❖ There is/ was + a/an + (Adjective)+ Noun + in + noun phrase
- In 1990, there was a rapid rise in the rate of using private
car.
- There has been a dramatic rise in the production of films
over the period
- There was a dramatic decrease in the - There was a sharp increase in the number
number of tourists from 1980 to 2010. of tourists between 1980 and 1990.
- The number of tourist declined - The number of tourist increased sharply in
dramatically over the period. the first ten years.
NOTE: Remember that adjectives come before nouns and adverbs come after
verbs:
- a rapid (adjective) + decrease (noun)
- climb (verb) + upward (adverb)
Some adverbs such as fast, hard, upward, downward are irregular. (not fastly/ hardly/
upwardly/ downwardly)
Different degree of raising or falling Basic sentences
- X: The rate
rose/increased/went up rapidly.
- Y: The rate
rose/increased/went up
steadily.
- Z: The rate
rose/increased/went up slightly
- X: The rate decreased/
declined/went down sharply.
- Y: The rate decreased/
declined/went down gradually.
- Z: The rate rose/
increased/went up slowly
Different degree of Basic sentences Expanded sentences
raising or falling
- The number of… - The number of
Falling then rising fell, and then …fell/decreased/ went
down slightly at first, and
increased
then began to
gradually. rise/increase/go up
- The number of… sharply.
went down, and - At first, there was a slight
then went up downward trend in the
significantly. number of…, and then it
- The number of … turned into an upward
trend.
recovered from a a - In the beginning, the
fall. number of… decreased
slightly, and after a while,
there was a sharp increase
Example: Write two sentences to describe the chart

1. Sales dropped dramatically in the first five years.

2. There was a gradual increase towards the end of the
decade.
Exercise 4: Write sentences to describe the charts

1. The number of visitors to the museum increased steadily from 1000

thousand in 1990 to nearly 1200 thousand in 2000, and then fell
dramatically to under 500 thousand in 2005.
2. There was a slight increase in the number of people visiting museum in
the next five years/ in 2010.
Exercise 4: Write sentences to describe the charts

1. The exam pass rate remained stable for the first five months (at
around 60%), and then increased dramatically to 80% between May
and June.
2. However, the figure remained stable/ there was no change in the
figure of pass rate over the period.
Exercise 5: Complete the sentences about the graphs. Use suitable verbs,
adverbs, adjectives.
a slight increase
1. There was a …………………………in holidays to France between
2006 and 2007.
fluctuated
2. The number of long-haul flights………………… for four years.
3. The money spent on holidays ………………….between
remained stable June and July.
4. The price of skiing holidays………………. from 2005 to 2006.
rosenumber
5. There was a..................... in the slightly of holidays to France in
2008. sharp increase
6. The number of travellers on long-haul flights……………. between
2006 and 2012. fluctuated
7. There was a ....................in the amount of money spent on holidays in
August 2009.sharp decrease
8. The price of skiing holidays………………………. in 2008.
rose sharply
Exercise 6: Using verbs, adverbs or adjectives to rewrite the following sentences.
1. The development of new products fell gradually.
Þ There was................................................................................................
a gradual fall in the development of new products ............
2. The purchases of tickets dropped significantly last month.
a significant drop in the purchase of tickets
Þ There was ................................................................................................................
3. There was a sudden decrease in the sale of mangos.
Þ The sale .........................................................................................................................
of mangos decreased suddenly.
4. At the theme park, there were very sight fluctuations in the number of visitors.
Þ The number ................................................................................................................
of visitors at the theme park fluctuated slightly
5. There was a gradual decline in sugar imports.
Þ Sugar .............................................................................................................
imports declined gradually
6. The quality of food in supermarkets has increased slowly.
Þ There has .................................................................................................................
been a slow increase in the quality of food in supermarkets.
7. The number of air travellers fluctuated significantly.
was a significant fluctuation in the number of air travellers.
=> There ......................................................................................................................
 SKILL DEVELOPMENT
1. Describing line graphs
- A line graph shows how the value of something changes over
time.
- The vertical axis shows quantities, e.g. numbers, percentages.
The horizontal axis shows different points in time, usually months
or years.
- Different quantities measured at different points in time can be
joined by using a continuous line to show a trend or how these
quantities change, e.g. increase, decrease, or stay the same.
- More lines (different colours or styles) can be used for different
categories. The key explains which categories are being
measured.
 SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Examples:
“The graph below shows predictions about the number of people who will
study three major world languages between 2020 and 2030.”

- There will be a steady rise

in the number of people who
study English.
- It is predicted that the
number of students of
Mandarin will rise
considerably
 SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Exercise 7: The graph below shows the popularity of holiday types
since the year 1990 and predicted time up to 2020.
 SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Look at the line graph above to complete the table and then answer
the questions below.

- what is being measured

- units
- categories
- years
- time period
 1. What does the line graph show?
............................................................................................................
The graph shows the popularity of three different types of holiday from 1990 to 2020 in millions of travellers.

2. How did the number of city breaks change from 1990 to 2010?
............................................................................................................
City breaks increased gradually from 2 million travellers in 1990 to 3 million in 2010.
3. How was the popularity of skiing holidays from 1990 to 2000 and the
next ten years?
...........................................................................................................
There was a slight increase in skiing holidays from 1990 to 2000, and then they
remained stable in the next ten years/ for about ten years.
...........................................................................................................
4. How will the number of people who go on skiing holidays change from
2010 to 2020?
............................................................................................................
From 2010 to 2020, it is predicted that there will be a sharp decrease in
the number of people who go on skiing holidays.
............................................................................................................
5. How to describe the figure of beach holidays makers over the period?
............................................................................................................
Beach holidays have decreased gradually from over 4 million to 3.5 million travellers
over the period.
2. Describing bar charts
- Bar graphs, also known as bar charts, are similar to line graphs in that
they have two axes and are useful for showing how something has
changed over a given period of time, especially when there are significant
changes.
Exercise 8: The chart below shows the number of travellers using three major
airports in New York City between 1995 and 2000.
1. What does the bar chart gives information about?
The bar chart gives information about how many people visited New York City through three major airports,
over a six-year period between 1995 and 2000.
2.How can you describe the trend of the three categories in general?
Overall, while the number of passengers travelling to John F. Kennedy airport fluctuated, there was an
increase in the figure for other two airports.
3. What was the trend of the number of travellers at John F. Kennedy airport from
1995 to 1997 and 1998 to 2000?
The number of travellers at John F. Kennedy airport rose gradually to 47 million in 1997
before falling in the next 2 years. After that, it increased sharply at the end of the period.

4. What was the trend of LaGuardia visitors over the period?

There was a steady rise in the number of visitors at LaGuardia airport from 25 million in 1995 to 50
million in 1999, and then it increased sharply to nearly 70 million over the period.

5. What was the trend of passengers in the Newark airport from 1995 to 1997 and
in the last three years?
The figure for passengers in the Newark airport went up gradually to around 40 million between from
1995 to 1997 before its stability in the last three years.
 PRACTICE
Practice 1: Look at the line graph and write down sentences to describe two
features by using the correct tenses in two ways.
 i. rose steadily from 0% v. fell steadily by about 20% over this
ii. dropped from nearly 80% in 1985 to time
around 20% in 2005 vi. decreased steadily over the
iii. increased from 1990 to 2005 twentyyear period
iv. remained stable vii. sharp rise

Practice 2: Complete the text below using the phrases from the box. (Put
references i-vii in the correct gaps)
The line graph shows how people liked to watch films between 1985 and 2005. We can
see that some methods of watching films became less popular, while some other new
methods became very popular. We can also see that watching films on TV has always
stayed popular.
Firstly, both video and cinema ..................... Video watching ....................... This is
similar to watching films at cinemas, which ....................Some methods of watching films
have become more popular. Watching films on the Internet and DVD
both ........................ There was a ..................... (from 0% to 65%) in DVD watching.
Watching films on the Internet ................. To just under 40%. The high percentage of
people who watched films on TV .................... at around 80%.
 HOMEWORK
• Do exercise 1, 2, 3 (p. 97-99)