how to describe a chartgraph or table1 (1)

HOW TO DESCRIBE A
CHART,GRAPH OR TABLE


OUTLINE PLAN
• INTRODUCTION:
• Topic sentence describing what the data (displayed as a table, graph or
chart) is about.
• GENERAL STATEMENT(S) ABOUT THE DATA:
• What overall trends can you see?
• DETAILED STATEMENTS ABOUT THE DATA :
• Focus on the details that are relevant for your essay.
• CONCLUSION:
• one sentence which sums up what this data tells us or why it is
important to you argument.


IDENTIFYING WHAT THE GRAPH IS
ABOUT

KEY WORDS:
London Underground
Number of passengers/people
Travelling/using the underground during the day


PUTTING TOGETHER YOUR
TOPIC SENTENCE
• HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:
The graph shows the fluctuation in the number of
people at a London Underground station over the

course of a day.
This graph shows the number of passengers travelling
on the London Underground during the day.
• The graph illustrates passenger numbers using the
London Underground during the course of the day


HOW TO DESCRIBE TRENDS
GO UP

GO DOWN

• ______________
• ______________

______________

• ______________
• ______________

______________

• ______________
• ______________

______________

increase

fall

______________
______________
______________

climb
grow rise

decrease

drop
dip

decline


MAKING A GENERAL
STATEMENT ABOUT THE DATA

• The graph shows/illustrates how passenger
numbers grow/increase/climb/rise during rush hour.
• The graph shows/illustrates how passenger numbers
fall/decrease/drop/decline/dip when rush hour has
ended.


DESCRIBING TRENDS
• GOING INTO DETAIL—You need to describe in detail
particular aspects of the data that prove the point that
you are trying to make in the essay.

• To do this you can use a verb and an adverb e.g Sales
rose sharply.
• Or an adjective and a noun. This is normally used with
There is/are ……
• There was/were…..
• There has been / have been…..
• e.g There was a sharp rise in sales.
• (Using an adjective and a noun is slightly more formal.)


DESCRIBING UP TRENDS USING NOUNS
AND ADJECTIVES

A

ADJECTIVE

ADJECTIVE

(amount of change )

(speed of change)

dramatic
sharp
substantial
considerable
significant
slight
consistent

rapid
quick
swift
slow
steady
immediate

NOUN
rise
increase
recovery
growth

The graph/chart shows a.. (adjective + noun)…in passenger numbers during……..
There is/was a.. (adjective+noun)…in passenger numbers during………..


DESCRIBING UP TRENDS USING
VERBS
VERBS

rise
increase
recover
go up
grow

ADVERBS

ADVERBS

(amount of change )

(speed of change)

dramatically
sharply
substantially
considerably
significantly
slightly
consistently

rapidly
quickly
swiftly
slowly
steadily
immediately


WHICH TENSE SHOULD I USE?
SIMPLE
PRESENT
rise/rises
Increase/increases
recover/recovers
go up/goes up
grow/grows

SIMPLE PAST
rose
increased
recovered
went up
grew

PRESENT
PERFECT
has/have risen
has/have
increased
has/have
recovered
has/have gone up
has/have grown


DESCRIBING UP TRENDS

Passenger numbers rose considerably between 6am and 8 am with a rise of
travellers from 100 to 400.
The number of underground travellers increases significantly between the hours
of 6 and 8 am peaking at 400 passengers.
Remember to be consistent with your use of tenses!


DESCRIBING DOWN TRENDS USING
NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

A

ADJECTIVE

ADJECTIVE

(amount of change )

(speed of change)

dramatic
sharp
substantial
considerable
significant
slight
consistent

rapid
quick
swift
slow
steady
immediate

NOUN
fall
decrease
decline

dropping off

The graph/chart shows a.. (adjective + noun)…in passenger numbers during……..
There is/was a.. (adjective+noun)…in passenger numbers during………..


DESCRIBING DOWN TRENDS
USING VERBS
VERBS

fall
decrease
decline
go down
drop off

ADVERBS

ADVERBS

(amount of change )

(speed of change)

dramatically
sharply
substantially
considerably
significantly
slightly

consistently

rapidly
quickly
swiftly
slowly
steadily
immediately


WHICH TENSE SHOULD I USE?
SIMPLE
PRESENT
fall/falls
decrease/decreases
decline/declines
go down/goes down
level off/levels off
drop off/drops off

SIMPLE PAST
fell
decreased
declined
went down
levelled off
dropped off

PRESENT
PERFECT

has/have fallen
has/have decreased
has/have declined
has/have gone
down
has/have levelled off
has/have dropped
off


DESCRIBING DOWN TRENDS

The number of passengers decreased consistently after 8 am from 400
passengers down to 200 by 10 am.
Passenger numbers drop off steadily after 8 am to reach 200 by 10 am.
Remember to be consistent with your use of tenses!


HOW TO DESCRIBE TRENDS
•remain steady
•fluctuate
•increase slightly
•decrease dramatically
•decrease slightly
•increase rapidly
•rise dramatically
•plunge
•drop suddenly
•stay the same
•go up a little

•go down slightly


MORE VERBS AND NOUNS
VERBS

NOUNS

NO CHANGE
flatten out
stabilise
level off
hold steady
remain stable
not change
continue to be stable
UP AND DOWN
fluctuate
TO ITS MAXIMUM POINT
peak

NO CHANGE
a flattening out
a stabilisation
a levelling off
UP AND DOWN
a fluctuation
TO ITS MAXIMUM POINT
a peak

WHICH TENSE SHOULD I USE
SIMPLE
PRESENT

SIMPLE PAST

flatten out/flattens out
stabilise/stabilises
level off/levels off
hold steady/holds
steady
remain stable/remains
stable
do/does not change
continue/continues to
be stable

flattened out
stabilised
levelled off
held steady
remained stable
did not change
continued to be stable

fluctuate/fluctuates

have/has flattened out
have/has stabilised

have/has levelled off
have/has held steady
have/has remained
stable
have/has not changed
have/has continued to
be stable
have/has fluctuated

fluctuated
peaked

peak/peaks

PRESENT
PERFECT

have/has peaked


DESCRIBING OTHER TRENDS

Passenger numbers peak at 8 am reaching 400 and again later in the
afternoon at 6pm.
The number of travellers using the underground peaked during the morning
and evening rush hour at 8 am and 6 pm when they reached 400.
Remember to be consistent with your use of tenses!


DESCRIBING OTHER TRENDS

Passenger numbers flatten out between the hours of 12 and 2 pm where they
remain at 300.
Passenger numbers stabilised from 12pm to 2 pm where they remained at
300.
Remember to be consistent with your use of tenses!


DESCRIBING OTHER TRENDS

Passenger numbers fluctuate considerably throughout the day recording the
biggest fluctuations between rush hour.
Passenger numbers fluctuated significantly during the day peaking at 400
and dropping off to 100.
Remember to be consistent with your use of tenses!


AND FINALLY……………….
SUMMING UP/CONCLUDING
· In summary we can see that...
· To sum up...
· In conclusion it can be seen that….
· It can be concluded from the data/information
that…
· Overall the data shows/indicates/suggests…
· Summarising the findings it can be seen that..
· Overall it appears that..


YOUR CONCLUSION

In summary we can see that the busiest times on the London Underground
are at 8 am and at 6 pm. The quietest times are 6 am, 4 pm and after 8 pm.
Passenger numbers remain quite steady during the day.
Remember to be consistent with your use of tenses!


Making Comparisons


In IELTS task 1, you must also compare the data as
you are asked to do in the rubric.
If you just write about what happened to ActiveX,
what happened to Java, and what happened to Net,
without showing any relationship between them, this
won’t be enough.
Here are some examples of where comparisons are
made between the products in the IELTS task 1 graph,
and the language of comparison is highlighted in
bold / red: