PrepMyEnglish
IELTS Writing Task 1: Describing Trends
Vocabulary and structures for line graphs, bar charts and tables
1. Two ways to say the same thing
| Structure | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | Subject + verb (+ adverb) | Unemployment fell sharply. |
| Noun | There was + a/an + (adjective) + noun + in + subject | There was a sharp fall in unemployment. |
Rule: a verb takes an adverb and a noun takes an adjective.
increase slightly → a slight increase
increase slightly → a slight increase
2. Direction of change: verbs and nouns
| Direction | Verbs | Nouns | Example sentences |
|---|---|---|---|
| ↗ Upward | rose (to) increased (to) went up climbed (to) boomed |
a rise an increase growth an upward trend a boom (dramatic rise) |
Sales rose from 10% to 25%. There was a rise in sales. |
| ↘ Downward | fell (to) declined (to) decreased (to) dipped (to) dropped (to) went down slumped (dramatic fall) reduced (to) |
a decrease a decline a fall a drop a slump (dramatic fall) a reduction |
Exports dropped to 5 million. There was a drop in exports. |
| → Stable | levelled out (at) did not change remained stable (at) remained steady (at) stayed constant (at) maintained the same level |
a levelling out no change |
Prices remained stable at 40%. There was no change in prices. |
| ↕ Fluctuation, peak, plateau | fluctuated (around) peaked (at) plateaued (at) stood at |
a fluctuation reached a peak (of) reached a plateau (at) |
Sales fluctuated around 30%. Sales peaked at 60% in 2010. |
"Stood at": use it to give a starting point before describing the movement.
In the first year, unemployment stood at 8%, then…
In the first year, unemployment stood at 8%, then…
3. Degree of change (how big?)
| Size | Adjective (+ noun) | Adverb (+ verb) | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very big | dramatic | dramatically | Profits rose dramatically. / a dramatic rise |
| sharp | sharply | Sales fell sharply. / a sharp fall | |
| huge | — | a huge increase | |
| enormous | enormously | Costs increased enormously. / an enormous increase | |
| steep | steeply | Prices climbed steeply. / a steep climb | |
| substantial | substantially | a substantial drop / dropped substantially | |
| considerable | considerably | a considerable rise / rose considerably | |
| significant | significantly | a significant decline / declined significantly | |
| Medium | marked | markedly | a marked increase / increased markedly |
| moderate | moderately | a moderate growth / grew moderately | |
| Small | slight | slightly | a slight dip / dipped slightly |
| small | — | a small reduction | |
| minimal | minimally | a minimal change / changed minimally |
"Huge" and "small" have no adverb form. Use another adverb (enormously, slightly) or switch to the noun structure.
4. Speed of change (how fast?)
| Speed | Adjective (+ noun) | Adverb (+ verb) | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast | rapid | rapidly | Unemployment fell rapidly. / a rapid fall |
| quick | quickly | Numbers rose quickly. / a quick rise | |
| swift | swiftly | a swift recovery / recovered swiftly | |
| sudden | suddenly | a sudden drop / dropped suddenly | |
| Regular | steady | steadily | a steady rise / rose steadily |
| Slow | gradual | gradually | a gradual decline / declined gradually |
| slow | slowly | a slow increase / increased slowly |
5. Putting it all together: model sentences
| Structure | Formula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | Subject + verb + degree/speed adverb + by (amount) / to (end level) | Unemployment fell sharply by 5% to 7%. |
| Noun | There was + a + degree/speed adjective + noun + in + subject + of (amount) | There was a sharp fall in unemployment of 5%. |
6. Key prepositions
| Preposition | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| by | amount of change | rose by 10% |
| to | final figure | rose to 50% |
| from … to | start and end | rose from 20% to 50% |
| at | a fixed level or a peak | remained steady at 30% |
| of | size of change, with a noun | an increase of 10% |
| in | what changed | a rise in prices |
Teaching tips
- Use the past tense for past dates (rose, fell, peaked) and the present perfect for "up to now" (has increased).
- Vary your vocabulary and mix verb and noun structures. Repeating the same word hurts the Lexical Resource score.
- Rose and fell are irregular: never "rised" or "falled".
- Write "reached a plateau", not "reached at plateau".