LANGUAGE FOR CHARTS
IELTS WRITING TASK 1
DẠNG CHANGE OVER TIME
CHANGE OVER TME
How to describe trend:
CHANGE VERB NOUN
• declined • a decline
• decreased • a decrease
• dropped • a drop
• fell • a fall
DOWN • slipped
• a dip
• went down
• reduced • a reduction
• dipped
• plummeted (a lot) • a plummet
• plunged (a lot) • a plunge
• went up
• inclined • a growth
• grew • an increase
UP • increased • a rise
• rose • a jump
• jumped (a lot) • a soar/surge
• soared (a lot)
• climbed (a lot)
• remained+ the • stabilization
NO CHANGE same|
• leveling-off
unchanged|
stable |constant|
stagnant |level
at….
• stabilized at……..
• level off
• evened out at
• fluctuated • fluctuation
CONSTANT CHANGE around….
• variation
• fluctuated
between….and…..
• was erratic
1
• reached a peak
of…..
• hit the highest
point of
• peaked at…..
• reached a high of
• hit the lowest
point of
• hit a low of
• reached a trough
of
• to double • a two-fold increase
• to treble • three-fold increase
Adjectives and Adverbs to describe changes
1. a small change:
• slight → slightly
• moderate → moderately
• marginal → marginally
• modest → modestly
2. a very big change:
• dramatic → dramatically
• drastic → drastically
3. a medium/ big change:
• significant → significantly
• considerable → considerably
4. a fast change:
• rapid → rapidly
• quick → quickly
• swift → swiftly
• sharp → sharply
5. a slow change:
2
• slow →slowly
• gradual →gradually
6. a surprising change:
• remarkable → remarkably
• striking → strikingly
• substantial → substantially
• sudden→ suddenly
• abrupt → abruptly
7. a consistent change:
• steady → steadily
1. rose/increased steadily
2. rose/increased dramatically
3. rose/increased gradually
4. plunged to …
5. peaked at/reached a high of …
6. stood at
7. fluctuated
8. fell/dropped dramatically / sharply
9. reach a trough of …
3
10. remained constant/unchanged/stable at … .
11. leveled off/evened out at …
12. hit a low of …
Time phrases
• In (year):
The number of arrests for illegal drug use stood at 55 in 1981.
• By…. (+ past perfect)
By 2001, the proportion of 1-person and 2-person households
had risen to 26% and 34% respectively.
• A period of time:
+ From ….. to ……=between…..and……
+ Over the next X years / for the following X years
+ Throughout/During the period from 2000 to 2009
For the following three decades/ 30 years, both the production of steel
decreased by approximately 50%.
• At the end of the period:
There was a sudden increase at the end of this period.
• The remaining period:
+ Over the last X years
Over the last 5 years of the period, the figure remained stable at around 6%.
+ for the remainder of the period:
The figure remained stable for the following year, but then increased gradually to
20, leveling off at this rate for the remainder of the period.
4
PRACTICE:
Fill in the gaps with appropriate verbs and adverbs?
1a. Looking at the details, with regards
to Bake My Day, income remained at a
steady low of around £20,000 between
1990 and 1992, after which it (1)
s……………. to over £40,000 in 1993.
Following this, takings
(2)r………..(3)st………..to reach
£70,000 in 1998, (4) d…………… to
£60,000 in 1999.
1b. As for The Cake Shop, after a (1) s……… g…….. to just under £100,000, earnings
saw a (2) c……………… d………….. to around £50,000 in 1996, half the figure of five
years earlier. There was a (3) l……………… for the next three years, but this was
followed by another small (4) f…………….to just above £40,000 in 1999.
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ANSWER KEY 1a:
(1) Soared
(2) Rose
(3) Steadily
(4) Decline
ANSWER KEY 1b:
(1) Slight growth
(2) Considerable decrease
(3) Leveling off
(4) Fall
