IELTS WRITING Task 1

Describing a line graph/bar chart/pie chart

Simple Introduction Starters

the income…
provides information about the energy consumption…
(line) graph presents information about the trends in…
The …by age group/country/gender
(bar) (pie) chart the number of (COUNTABLE NOUN)
illustrates the amount of (UNCOUNTABLE NOUN) …according to age/country of origin/gender
table the popularity of…

provides a breakdown of … the proportion of… (ONLY WHERE % IS USED)

the percentage of…

Overview (provides a general picture of the main trends and changes/use comparison where possible/NB for Task Achievement)
adjective* noun* Other phrases for overview…
significant
Overall, marked increase
noticeable rise The trend was upward/downward…
In general, substantial growth There was an upward/downward trend…
there was considerable
Generally a sharp decrease X showed an upward trend…
speaking, X experienced an decline
/demonstrated continual fall The trends varied…
On the whole, /saw steady drop
gradual There were considerable variations in the trends for…
In brief,
slight fluctuation
moderate
marginal
 IELTS WRITING Task 1
Describing a line graph/bar chart/pie chart
Describing main trends and changes in the graph: verbs of movement + adverbs / there was + adj* + noun* (see list above)
Verbs of movement **Task 1 Prediction**
fall rise dip peak will (increase)
drop climb fluctuate remain steady reach a peak is predicted to (increase)
decline jump vary remain flat hit a low hit a peak is expected to (fall)
decrease rocket stabilise is forecast to…
plummet soar be erratic reach plateau reach the lowest reach a high is projected to…
plunge grow be inconstant point is set to (increase)…
increase reach the
highest point It is anticipated that…
(after a decline)
recover By 2050, X will have changed…

Adverbs (to show type/amount of change) Referring to time

a small change over a a fast change over a
longer period shorter period
steadily sharply in 1960 (no article) from 1970 to 1972
gradually dramatically in the years 1960 and 1962… between 1970 and 1972
slowly but surely quickly
slowly swiftly At the beginning/end of the year/period/decade/century
slightly drastically
rapidly In the 90s / in the 1990s
radically In the early 90s (1990 – 1993)
considerably In the mid-90s (1994 – 1997)
significantly In the late 90s (1998 – 1999)

Over the period as a whole (from beginning to end)

Throughout the period

During the period (at one particular point in the period)

In the previous year
In the subsequent/following year
Subsequently,…
 IELTS WRITING Task 1
Describing a line graph/bar chart/pie chart
Qualifiers Sentence Starters
For estimated numbers: We can see from the data that…
around 2 million
It is evident from the data that…
just over 10%
just under 500 tonnes What is noticeable is…

more than 20% It is clear that…

It is apparent that…
approximately
roughly The most striking/noticeable trend…
about
almost It is interesting to note…
nearly
It is worth noting that…
For the exact amount:
precisely 12%
exactly 1.3 million

We can see that there are considerable differences between…

The overwhelming majority of X Consisted of

The bulk of Was made up

A large proportion/small/sizeable Total

x was more likely to … than y represent

Accounted for Twice as common

Constituted Three times as popular

Comprised
 IELTS WRITING Task 1
Describing a line graph/bar chart/pie chart
Reasons/factors

The reasons for

The main reasons for

The main factors which influenced why…/determined how…/contributed to

As regards X,…

With regard to…

Comparing

e.g. number of males and females; number of international students; number of cars per household

(not) as many X as Y Differed significantly

Almost as many X exceeded Y for the first half of the decade/ws overtaken by

More x than y Surpass

Fewer x than y Outnumber

Slightly more Similarly

Considerably more The highest overall increase

Substantially more The greatest number

Far more/fewer The lowest number

Vast difference By far the most

 IELTS WRITING Task 1
Describing a line graph/bar chart/pie chart
identical More/fewer/less noun than

Almost equal Comparative adj than

Almost as much as/almost as adj as More / less adj than

Twice as many/double the amount/number of Superlative adj

Three times as many As sth as for similarity

The only similarity between the two groups was… Seen together,…

Miscellaneous

A sizeable majority/number of

It would seem that…

To conclude,…

In conclusion

To sum up

By 2025

In 2025

In the future

By the year 2020

The highest/lowest projected number of/ rate of growth/ amount of