Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

IN THIS LESSON YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT

● Review on writing task 1
● Additional information
Task 1
4 types
Dynamic charts

Static charts
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

Map

Process

Task 1 requirement: fast - clear - short

150 words: ⅓ ~ 20 minutes (10-12 sentences)
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

WRITING TASK 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The graph below shows average carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per person in the United Kingdom,
Sweden, Italy and Portugal between 1967 and 2007.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where
relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

Task 1: Structure

Introduction 1 sentence

Overview 2 sentences

Body 1 3-4 sentences

Body 2 3-4 sentences

HOW TO WRITE AN INTRODUCTION

Using synonyms
The graph below/above shows acid rain emissions from four different sectors in the UK between 1990 and 2007.
= The line chart describes UK acid rain emissions from four areas namely transport and communication, electricity, gas
and water supply, domestic and other industries various areas from 1990 to 2007.

S(1) + V(1) + O + place + time

1. S(name of the chart/graph) The line graph/ The pie charts/ The bar chart/ The table
The given graph/ chart
The provided/given/shown graph

2. V_1 show = describe = illustrate = depict = present = compare = demonstrate

= give information about/ on
= give data about/ on…
= give figures/ statistics for …
Note: V1_tense = HTĐ

3. Object the rate / the proportion / the portion / the percentage / the share / the ratio ….
(noun phrase-clause(V_2) the number of = the quantity of = the amount of ….
how S2 + V2 … e.g. how much CO2 was emitted by …
Object (noun phrase) = S + V (Relative clause/ ….)
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

4. place In the UK, Italy, Germany and France respectively

= in four different countries/ (nations)
= in four European countries
In the UK= in Britain
The number of + N + in UK=the number of British + N
In the USA = in America

5. time A continual/ a constant period:

between...and.../ from 1990 to 2010
= over a period/span of …..years, beginning in 1990 (over a period of 20 years,
starting in 1990)
= over a …-year period, commencing from ..... (over a 20-year period,
commencing from 1980)
In separate years:
In 2003 and 2013
= in the two years 2003 and 2013 = in two separate years 2003 and 2013
= in the years 2003 and 2013.
In a single year:
= in the year 2003 = in the separate year 2003
Other expressions:
Over a period of … decades / … century(ies) (over a period of 2 decades,
starting from 1980)

Using passive form

The graph below/above shows acid rain emissions from four different sectors in the UK between 1990 and 2007.
= UK acid rain emissions from different areas from 1990 to 2007 is illustrated in the chart.

The line graph illustrates the amount of spread which was consumed from 1981 to 2007 in Australia, in grams.
= The given line graph compares the amount of spread Australian citizens consumed from 1981 to 2007, measured in
grams
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

Using relative sentences

The graph below gives information about the percentage of people living in Australia who were born in Asia, the UK,
and other regions.
= The line graph illustrates the percentage of people living in Australia born in Asia, the UK, and other regions.

The graph below shows the average number of UK commuters traveling each day by car, bus or train between 1970
and 2020.
= The provided graph describes the mean number of commuters in the UK who traveled each day by three different
means of transport: car, bus and train from 1970 to 2020.

Using word formation

The graph gives information about coffee production in 4 different countries from 1990 to 2010.
= The graph illustrates the amount of coffee produced in four nations between 1990 and 2010.
= The graph demonstrates how much coffee was produced in four nations namely Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and
Vietnam in a period of 20 years, starting in 1990.
● the production of A
= the amount of A produced (how much A was produced)/ the number of A produced (how many A were
produced)
The graph below shows the percentage of Australian exports to four countries from 1990 to 2012
= The given graph depicts the percentage of goods that were exported from Australia to four different markets between
1990 and 2012

HOW TO WRITE AN OVERVIEW

1st sentence Overall, …common trend…

2nd sentence In addition, …one striking point...

Dynamic charts - Overview

1. The first sentence in overview

In general...= In common... = Generally speaking... = It is obvious that... = As it is observed... = As a general trend... =
As can be seen... = As an overall trend/ As overall trend... = As it is presented... = It can be clearly seen that... = At the
first glance... = It is clear that … = At the onset... = A glance at the graph(s) reveals that...
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

Overall, there was an upward trend in the ... of A, B and C.

Overall, there was a downward trend in the ... of A, B and C.

Overall, there was an upward trend in the ...of A, B and C, despite some
fluctuations in the middle years.
fluctuate (v) = vary (v)

Overall, there was an upward trend in the ...of almost of ..., except for
(that of) D. / apart from/ with the exception of
(….., while a decline was seen in that of D.)

Overall, there was an upward trend in the...of A and B, while there was
a downward trend in (that of) C and D.
…, while (that of) C and D saw/ experienced/ witnessed an opposite
trend /(pattern).
... while an opposite pattern was seen in that of C and D.

2. The second sentence in overview

You can choose one of these following sentences to add the second idea for overview:
● In addition, the figure for (A/B/C/D) was constantly/ always the highest/ the lowest.
● In addition, A/B/C/D constantly had the highest/ lowest figure.
● In addition, A/B/C/D had the most significant growth/decrease.

Note for overview:

● For the second sentence in overview, if none of the two techniques before is usable, that is, either there is no
line that always stay at the top of the chart (meaning that nothing is consistently/ constantly/always the
highest) or the growth of lines is not really significant, you can use:
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

In addition, A/B/C/D was constantly the highest except for … when it was exceeded/surpassed/ outnumbered
by ...
or
In addition, A/B/C/D was the highest from...to..., then A/B/C/D took up its position to become top 1.

Example:

As you can see, the percentage of Australian exports to Japan was the highest from 1990 to 2007; however;
from 2007 onwards, it stayed at the 2nd position, so if you use technique no1 (In addition, the figure for
(a/B/C/D) was constantly/always /consistently the highest/ the lowest) it will be incorrect. In this case, you
can write: In addition, the percentage of Australian exports to Japan was always the highest until it was
surpassed by that of China in 2007.
Or another way to boost your band:
Japan had always been the biggest Australian export market until it was outperformed by China in 2007.
The former way is the usual type of sentence we use for writing task 1, with the same Subject (the percentage
of) throughout the report. However, it will be repetitive if all of your sentences begin with “the percentage of”.
Instead, you can use the latter way to express the same idea that the percentage of exports from Australia was
the highest in Japan from 1990 to 2007. This requires you to comprehensively understand the content of the
chart, and this sometimes may be difficult.
Here are some examples:
The graph below shows the percentage of people in different age groups in one city who attended music
concerts between 2010 and 2015.
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

The second sentence in overview can be:

The largest proportion of music concert audiences throughout the period was those in their 16-24, except for the year
2010.
Or:
Music concerts were attended the most by those in their 16-24, with the exception of the year 2010, when it was the 25-
44 age group that accounted for the largest proportion.

This can also be applied for the first sentence in overview:

The picture below shows the use of renewable energy accounting the total energy from 1971 to 2006.

Overview: Overall, renewable energy gained in popularity among all examined nations. While the rate in
Finland remained the largest, this kind of energy was least used in the UK.
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

➤ However, this is not the only way for you to get a higher band score. It is optional and is only
advisable for topics that you really understand.

These words can be used to form many different sentence structures useful for making comparisons, such as:
more/fewer/less + noun + than

-> More teenagers play computer games than a sport.

most/least + adjective

-> The most common childhood illness in 1979 was chickenpox.

more/less + adjective + than

-> Cruises were more popular than beach holidays in 2012.

high/low/few -er + than

-> A lower number of teenagers play a sport than play computer games.

high/low/large/small -est

-> The largest proportion of immigrants came from Mexico.

 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

Practice 1: Write an introduction and an overview for the following task.

The graph below shows the production levels of main fuels in a European country from 1981 to 2000.
Measured in tonnes.

Intro:
………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

Overview:
………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

Practice 2: Write an introduction and an overview for the following task.

The line graph illustrates the amount of spreads consumed from 1981 to 2007, in grams.

Intro:
………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

Overview:
………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

Useful language for movement tasks (change over time tasks)

modify the size modify the time

Adj Adv Adj Adv
dramatic dramatically sudden suddenly
sharp sharply quick quickly
marked markedly rapid rapidly
remarkable remarkably steady steadily
substantial substantially gradual gradually
moderate moderately progressive progressively
relative relatively slow slowly
slight slightly

Various structures to describe changes

(1) Time, S + V + place
In 1980, the consumption of pizza rose significantly in Australia.
In 1980, a significant quantity of pizza were consumed in Australia.

(2) There + tobe + a/an +adj + N + in object + place + time

Eg: There was a rise in the pizza consumption in Australia in1980.
There was a decrease in the consumption of fish and chips in Australia.
There was a plateau in the consumption of pizza from 1995 to 2000.

(3) S + see/witness/experience/record + a/an N+…

Time(S) + see/witness/experience/record + a/an (adj) N in + ….
1980 saw a significant rise in the pizza consumption in Australia.
The period from 1995 to 2000 witnessed a plateau in the consumption of pizza.

Place(S) + see/witness/experience/record + a/an (adj) N in + ….

 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

Australia witnessed a plateau in the consumption of pizza from 1995 to 2000.

S see/witness/experience/record a/an (adj) N in + time

The consumption of pizza witnessed a plateau from 1995 to 2000

(4) Passive: a/an (adj) N in … was/is seen/witnessed/experienced/recorded in + time

A significant rise was seen in the pizza consumption in Australia in 1980.

The pizza consumption saw a rise in 1980.

Describing figures
At
Start at + figure

Starting at 0.7$, the price of wholegrain recorded an incline from 2004 to 2005.

Starting at 0.6$, there was an increase in the price of brown bread from 2001 to 2005.

Starting at 0.6$, there was an increase in the price of brown bread from 2001 to 2005.

Stand at + figure
The unemployment rate was/ stood at 5% in 2000.

Remain stable/ unchanged /remain the same at + figure

The percentage of foreign visitors to Vietnam remained stable at 30% in 2015.

A stability at + figure

A stability at 2$ in the price of wholegrain was experienced in the period of five years,
from 2001.

Peak at + figure = reach a peak of/reach the highest point of + figure

The amount of electricity produced peaked at 10,000 units in 2000.

Bottom at + figure = hit a low of / hit the lowest point of + figure

The oil consumption of Polland bottomed at 1.5 gallon in 1995.

To – By – Of
To – By – Of go with nouns describing upward trends. (increase/rise…)
(verb) increase/decrease to + figure
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

The number of students increased to 10,000 after 2 years.

(noun) an increase/decrease to + figure

There was an increase to 10,000 in the number of students after 2 years.

(verb) increase/decrease by + figure

The number of students increased by 2,000 after 2 years.

(noun) an increase/decrease of + figure

There was an increase of 2,000 in the number of students after 2 years.

… point + of
reach a peak/reach the highest point of + figure

The amount of electricity produced reached a peak of 10,000 units in 2000.

hit a low/hit the lowest point of + figure

The amount of electricity produced hit the lowest point of 5,000 units in 1980.

around/between … and …
fluctuate/a fluctuation around + figure

The unemployment rate of Vietnam fluctuated around 10% from 2007 to 2010.

fluctuate/a fluctuation between… and….

The unemployment rate of Vietnam fluctuated between 8% and 12% from 2007 to 2010.

from … to …
The number of cars increased from almost 2 million in 2010 to approximately 4 million in
2012.

Respectively, correspondingly, in the same order

Likewise, California has experienced the dominant use of water for residential and
industrial reasons, at 39% and 33% respectively.
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

How to select striking data for body paragraphs

As you can see, there are a lot of figures in a line chart; however, you can not include all of them in your
writing. Instead, you should brainstorm key points for the answer, and usually there should be about 10
critical points that should be mentioned for each task
Here are some suggestions:

1 Start number for men

2 Lowest number for men

3 End number for men

4 Start number for women

5 Highest number for women

6 End number for women

7 Plateau for men

8 Dramatic increase for women

9 Leveled off for women

10 Gradual decline for women

 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

How to divide the paraphraphs

Example 1:
The graph below shows the number of
complains made about noise to
Environmental Health authorities in the
city of Newtown between 1980 and 1996.
Summarize the information by selecting
and reporting the mian features, and make
comparisons where relevant.

In this line graph you can group data in two

ways:
by years
Choose a year to split the chart into two halves, where
Body 1 will describe the first year to the split point
Body 2 will describe notes from the split point to the final year

In this example, you can choose the year 1988 as the split point and describe the number of complaints from
1980 to 1988 in body 1 (the beginning points, trends from 1980 to 1988), whereas in body 2 you will describe
these from 1988 onwards.

Here’s an example of providing specific data:

From the beginning year to 1988, complaints about road works and traffic noise followed the same pattern,
starting at 500 and 300, respectively before gradually declining to 400 and 200 in the same order.
In the following years, reports of road works noise were constantly higher than those of traffic noise, with both
of these figures witnessing a significant increase to over 1200 and 600 correspondingly in 1996.
 Handout 1: The guide to Writing Task 1 (Line Graph - Dynamic)

by trends

Divide bodies by similarities or contraries: groups of quantities that have similarities or contraries in terms of trend

As you can see, complaints made about Road Works and Traffic Noise follow a quite similar trend, while that of Road
Works and Domestic/household are opposite patterns.

So you can describe either complaints made about Road Works and Traffic Noise (1) or complaints made about Road
Works and Domestic/household (2) in Body 1, and Body 2 will include the two remaining.

The structure of Body 1 may look like this:

For (1): description of complaints made about Road Works. Likewise/similarly, description of complaints
made about Traffic Noise
For (2): description of complaints made about Road Works. By contrast/On the contrary, description of
complaints made about Domestic/household

Here's an example of providing specific data:

Complaints about road works and traffic noise presented a similarly increasing behaviour. Although the
number of reports concerning noise from road constructions dropped from 500 to 400 in 1986, it grew swiftly
after 1988, exceeding 1200 reports at the end of the period. Likewise, the number of complaints made about
traffic noise witnessed a slight decline from 300 to just 200 reports in 1986 before making a recovery and
peaking at 600 cases in 1996.

Step 2: Choose the most important information to include in the article

 The overall trends for the whole line
 The most prominent smaller trends in each line
 Important points: starting point, highest point, lowest point, intersection point, end
point…
 Comparison between quantities: higher, lower in each period or some special points

Step 3: The order of describing information in the paragraph

MOST SIGNIFICANT → LEAST SIGNIFICANT
Always describe the importance of the information, with large, large, important, high-impact quantities need to
be described first.