Academic task 1 – graph vocabulary (1)

This post looks at some vocabulary for IELTS writing task 1 when you need to describe a graph or chart that has a time element. I begin by looking at some of the most common vocabulary you need. Then I give you some variations and talk about  some grammar.

Test yourself first

Before you read on, you may want to test your knowledge first.

Basic trend language

The most basic vocabulary – a few variations

Let’s look at this graph and see what words we need to describe it. Put simply we need language that describes

  • up (2009 to 2010),
  • down (2008 to 2009),
  • up and down (between 2006 and 2009)
  • no change (2006 and 2007)
  • the top (2010)

The language I am going to suggest may seem very basic. It does, however, allow you to say the same thing in up to 6 different ways.That’s good.

Tip: if you find yourself repeating a word, try changing the form of it from a verb to a noun

You should also note that, even with this basic language, there are a variety of grammar problems that cause many candidates problems. That’s bad.

Up variations

Down variations

Up and down

Sometimes you need to describe a graph that goes up and then down. Here we have fewer options.

No change

Top

Preposition problem 1 – by and to

Prepositions are horrid in English. Have another look at the graph:

Note how these two sentences mean exactly the same:

The rate of unemployment rose to 12% in 2010.

The rate of unemployment rose by 5% in 2010.

Preposition problem 2 – in and of

This one is harder. We use “in” to describe changes in things and “of” to describe changes in number or amount. For example,

There was a rise in the rate of unemployment

There was a rise of 5% in the rate of unemployment.

For free updates enter your email address: 

Delivered by FeedBurner 

, , , ,

45 Responses to Academic task 1 – graph vocabulary (1)

  1. Maram January 16, 2011 at 1:59 pm #

    sir, you’re the GREATEST man on earth. i LOVE LOVE LOVE you.
    your blog was really useful.
    Thank you ♥.♥

    Reply
  2. Anonymous February 23, 2011 at 8:36 pm #

    thanks a million.u r doin a great job

    Reply
    • Anonymous December 9, 2011 at 2:43 am #

      its the best blog

      Reply
  3. Liyana April 28, 2011 at 10:20 am #

    Hi
    1) which is more accurate
    “reached its peak”
    or
    “reached a peak”

    2) Is it okay to mix past tense with continuous tense?
    i.e-sales were consistently above 200 million, rising sharply to a peak of 350 million.

    Reply
    • Dominic Cole June 18, 2011 at 5:03 pm #

      1, I would prefer “reached a peak”.

      2, Your example is fine. (what you have there is in fact a participle and not a continuous tense)

      Reply
  4. Silvia July 4, 2011 at 11:28 am #

    It is a great web. Here I have found very useful examples, I am going to continue studying using your web to be well prepared for my IELTS test. Thank youuuu

    Reply
  5. anura mirihagalla July 5, 2011 at 6:21 pm #

    you are doing a great job.txxx

    Reply
  6. afef July 14, 2011 at 2:37 am #

    thanks dominic you r the best)))

    Reply
    • Dominic Cole July 14, 2011 at 5:57 am #

      Not quite the best! But glad to be of service.

      Reply
  7. jess July 14, 2011 at 6:02 am #

    Sir, u r great……ur tips are relly very useful. u r doing a great job. Thanks a lot.

    Reply
  8. Hien July 14, 2011 at 11:19 am #

    Sir..please help me with this
    -Is it ok to write:”From 1990 to 2008,there was a fluctuation between 6% and 8% .”?
    -And by the way,is “8%” counted as a word?..I know this sounds silly but some word count tools DO count numbers as words..

    Thanks

    Reply
  9. Dominic Cole July 15, 2011 at 8:34 pm #

    I would prefer you used the verb: typically in English we choose to use verb forms whenever we can. We simply don’t like abstract nouns. So

    “The @@@@ fluctuated between 6% and 8%”

    I understand that most examiners would count 8% as one word.

    Reply
  10. mary July 21, 2011 at 10:24 am #

    Thank you very much sir.
    ur tips are relly very useful.
    God spee you.

    Reply
  11. shabnam August 9, 2011 at 3:31 pm #

    thank u so much ….. it’s a very useful blog …

    Reply
  12. selmon August 11, 2011 at 1:15 pm #

    I find this website recently, it is a great ielts study tool , I love it!!!

    Reply
  13. parneet August 25, 2011 at 11:36 am #

    doing great job sir i like ur blog

    Reply
  14. kinga dorji September 5, 2011 at 3:53 pm #

    thank u very much. it was very helpful and useful.

    Reply
  15. has September 14, 2011 at 4:00 pm #

    hi thanks for the post. you are doing a great job.
    how would you use the word @to plummet

    Reply
    • Dominic Cole September 15, 2011 at 1:39 am #

      The idea of plummet is to fall very quickly and a long way. To give you an idea, we have a spoken idiom in English (not something you can use in task 1 writing) “to drop like a stone” – I guess you can see the meaning from that.

      An example:

      “While there was little or no change among the majority of activities, the number of people that expressed a preference for eating out plummeted to a low of 5% in 1995.”

      Reply
  16. Emma September 21, 2011 at 2:30 pm #

    THANKS A MILLION!

    Reply
  17. Ahmed September 24, 2011 at 10:58 am #

    Hi Dominic Cole,

    This is a very great web that I have ever seen. I have actually found a very handy tips for IELTS in the web. I came across your web when I was looking for a web which can help me for IELTS preparation. I was really amazed by what I discovered your web. You have indeed presented to your subscribers a very useful and honest tips for the IELTS. Thank you for your time and efforts. Keep continue helping us.

    Reply
  18. Luz September 29, 2011 at 12:03 pm #

    Dear Dominic Cole:

    Thank you very much, I love your blog.

    Reply
  19. ana October 2, 2011 at 5:38 pm #

    thanks for the tips, Dominic. Hope to do well for the paper.

    Reply
  20. chandan October 19, 2011 at 3:12 am #

    thanks sir. your methodology to teach IELTS is superb. I am trying to make the best of it.

    Reply
  21. Joel Owani November 6, 2011 at 11:53 am #

    OOH
    I’ VE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE. FAILED IELTS TWICE BUT READY FOR AN 8 BAND IN DECEMBER 2011. WHAT A GREAT JOB THIS SITE HAS GIVEN ME.

    KEEP UP SIR

    Reply
  22. kat November 18, 2011 at 11:45 pm #

    I have ielts exam tmr! I’m so nervous and keep reading ur blog! it is really useful, thank you very much :)

    Reply
  23. Nisha Kriplani November 21, 2011 at 5:12 am #

    Thank You Dominic for creating such a webpage..its really being very helpful for preparing IELTS…I am appearing for IELTS on this dec 3rd…nd ur webpage is really helping me a lot…thnksss

    Reply
  24. mitra November 22, 2011 at 1:48 am #

    tnks alotttttt

    Reply
  25. junesweetman November 26, 2011 at 1:53 pm #

    Sir, u r great……ur tips are relly very useful. u r doing a great job.
    Thanks

    Reply
  26. bilawal November 26, 2011 at 2:18 pm #

    sir thank you very much
    sir please you guide me
    that which tense is used in writing task 1
    present simple
    or
    past simple

    Reply
    • Dominic Cole November 27, 2011 at 6:48 pm #

      That will very much depend on the wording of the question. Read the question carefully for the time period of the graph and also look at the axes of the graph. If it relates to the past – use past tenses. You should also note that you may need to use the future.

      Reply
  27. udesh December 1, 2011 at 6:15 pm #

    thank you very much Sir…

    Reply
  28. aisha December 5, 2011 at 12:22 am #

    its really very helpful webside. All ielts modules are explained in very nice and easy way.
    i hope i will achieve my target with the help of your brilliant webside.
    thank you so much.

    Reply
  29. Namfon December 8, 2011 at 2:54 am #

    Thank you very much. ^^

    Reply
  30. RESHMA ROSHAN December 9, 2011 at 11:49 pm #

    thank you very much.this site is very useful to me.

    Reply
  31. Mahmood Ali Malik December 15, 2011 at 6:22 pm #

    Hi dominic cole, I almost read your website and believe me its great. I was searching for a person like you. Thank you so much for the great input in IELTS. I have my IELTS test tomorrow 17th Dec 2o11. Let see what happen :-)

    Reply
  32. Anonymous December 16, 2011 at 12:07 pm #

    thank you so much buudddyyyyy i am very gald now coz tommorow will be my exam and i have so much trouble in graph thank you

    Reply
  33. qamar ahmad December 20, 2011 at 3:58 pm #

    fine

    Reply
  34. Anonymous December 29, 2011 at 1:20 pm #

    God bless you sir! this was really helpful

    Reply
  35. sbs January 5, 2012 at 7:08 am #

    sir,
    i have lots of problem in my grammer actually i get confused while using tense. can u provide me a single tense used exercise so that i can used it same way.

    Reply
    • Dominic Cole January 5, 2012 at 7:43 am #

      I aim to be doing more and more grammar in the next few months. Truth to tell, most candidates have problems in IELTS because of language difficulties – the exam itself is easy enough, it’s the language that is the hard part.

      Reply
  36. Ea January 9, 2012 at 5:18 pm #

    Thank you so much for your great effort and I really appreciate your kindness and generosity. With your help, in few weeks time, I scored 6.0 in writing due to my lack of practice and also too nervous for the first time sit and most important thing, my careless in task2 question!(Ianswered 1 instead of 2)
    Eventhough my result does not meet the course requirement and I’ll have to re-sit, but without your blog, I strongly believe I couldn’t reach that band!

    Thank you again and may you have the very happy and pleasant year! with good health and good luck throughout the year^^

    Reply
  37. DAPHNE January 17, 2012 at 10:36 pm #

    HELLOOO…

    Can we say ” CO2 emissions rose from 10 tonnes to 15 tonnes in June.

    Rise from— to is OK?

    Reply

Leave a Reply