University of the Aegean
School of Sciences
Department: SAFM
Course: English
Group: 3
Instructor: E. Landrou /
[email protected]
WRITING 2: DESCRIBING GRAPHS
A. Understanding charts
There are three important things to look at in a chart before you write:
 the title of the chart - this will tell you what is being shown overall, and it usually gives the
time period that it represents (e.g. 1980-2000)
 the titles of the vertical and horizontal axes - these will tell you what the units of
measurement are (e.g. centimetres, kilos, euros) and what groups are being compared
 the key or legend (if there is one) - this will tell you what groups or time periods are shown.
1. Look at the line graph below and decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F) according
to the information shown.
1
1.
2.
3.
4.
The graph shows the number of people over 16 who were unemployed
The graph covers a period of just over 3 years
In July 2006 the number of unemployed people rose to over 5,000
The unemployment rate at the beginning of the period was 5.1 per cent
B. Vocabulary
Read the description of the line graph below and do the exercise that follows.
The line graph shows the US inflation rate from 1929-2000. It is clear that the inflation rate
fluctuated a lot during this time. There was an abrupt drop in 1930 and 1931, when prices fell by
about 9%. A few years later inflation rose significantly to 3%. There was a big surge in inflation in
the beginning of the 1940s, followed by an equally sharp decrease. Inflation soared again in the
second half of the 1940s. Then it stabilized at about 1% during the early 1960s. There was a
substantial rise during the second half of the 1970s but then inflation tumbled in the early 1980s,
from 12% to 1%.
1. The highlighted words in the description of the chart that you’ve just read are useful phrases
for describing increases and decreases. Read the report again and find phrases from the
text which mean the same as these:
1. go up and down a lot
2. go down a lot (3 phrases)
3. go up a lot (4 phrases)
2
4. go down a little
5. don’t change
** For more phrases see Appendix, pages 8-10
2. There are two useful sentence structures for describing increase and decrease. Look at the
examples below:
1 [noun phrase] + [verb] + [adverb] For example:
 The unemployment rate rose rapidly.
 The cost of living fell dramatically.
2 [There is/are] + [noun phrase] For example:
 There was a rise in unemployment.
 There has been an increase in the cost of living.
Practise by finishing each sentence below so that it means the same as the one given.
1. The price of oil rose sharply.
There ……………………………………………………………………………..
2. There is a noticeable increase in temperature from May onwards.
Temperature ……………………………………………………………………………..
3. The number of people attending the theatre has fallen dramatically.
There ……………………………………………………………………………..
4. There has been a steady rise in DVD sales for the first six months of the year.
DVD sales ……………………………………………………………………………..
5. There has been a rapid growth in the use of alternative energy sources.
The use ……………………………………………………………………………..
C. Prepositions
Correct use of prepositions is also important. Here are some of the main prepositions you will
need to use:
PREPOSITIONS OF TIME
in [month / year / morning, afternoon etc]
at [9 o’clock, 10.30 am etc]
from..[a point in time]..to… [another point]
between…[a point in time]..and… [another
point]
during [a period of time]
before [a point in time or a period of time]
after [a point in time or a period of time]
by [a point of time arrived at, no sooner
than]
until [a point of time reached]
since [from a point in the past until now]
3
PREPOSITIONS OF QUANTITY
to rise from $1m to $2m
to increase by 100%
a decrease of 50%
to fall from $2m to $1m
to fall by 50%
to remain (stable)/stay (stable)/stabilize at
2%
1. Complete the following sentences with the correct preposition
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
……… January there was a noticeable rise in the number of people taking sick leave from work.
From 1996 ……… 2006 there was a steady increase in sales of organic produce.
……… June sales figures had been low, but later they began to increase rapidly.
From November ……… the end of the year energy consumption continued to rise.
There has been a marked decrease in road accidents ……… the new laws were introduced in
2005.
The price of the oil rose sharply ……… nearly $11 per barrel.
The price remained ……… $11 or $13 per barrel until 1979.
For the next few years the price fell ……… about 5%.
In 2000 there was an increase ……… 10%.
D. Practice (Assignment)
1. Read the description of the line graph in exercise A1 (page 1) and draw the missing section of
the line.
The line graph shows figures for unemployment in the UK workforce between May 2003 and July
2006. It is clear from the chart that the rate of unemployment fluctuated a great deal during this
time. At the beginning of the period, unemployment stood at 5.1 per cent. A few months later
the figure had risen slightly to 5.2 per cent. Unemployment then remained stable until
September 2003. From this point on there was a steady downward trend and by January 2004
the rate had fallen to 4.9 per cent. It stayed at this level until May the same year, but from May
to July there was another small drop of 0.2 per cent. There were no further changes in the level
of unemployment until March the following year. From March to May 2005, there was a small
increase of 0.2 per cent, but this did not last long and the figure had fallen back to 4.8 per cent by
July. From September 2005 onwards, however, there was a marked upward trend in the rate of
unemployment in the UK. From September 2005 to November the same year, the figure shot up
from 4.8 to 5.2 per cent. The rate remained stable for a few months, but then rose sharply again,
and had reached a peak of 5.7 per cent by July 2006.
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2. Choose one of the line graphs below and write a description (the country is UK in graphs bd).
a.
b.
5
c.
d.
6
Answers
Α. Understanding charts
Exercise 1
a.
b.
c.
d.
False (it shows the percentage)
True (according to the key, the chart covers the period from May 2003 to June 2006)
False (the rate rose to over 5.6%)
True
B. Vocabulary
Exercise 1
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
fluctuate a lot
abrupt drop, sharp decrease, tumble
rise significantly, a big surge, soar, substantial rise
fall
stabilize (at)
Exercise 2
1. There was a sharp rise in the price of oil.
2. Temperature increased noticeably from May onwards.
3. There has been a dramatic fall in the number of people attending the theatre.
4. DVD sales have been rising steadily for the first six months of the year.
5. The use of alternative energy sources has grown rapidly.
C. Prepositions
Exercise 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
In
to
By / In
to / until / till
since
to / by
at
by
of / by
7
Appendix: Vocabulary for describing trends or movements in graphs
To go up (a little)
Nouns
an increase
a rise
a growth
an improvement
an upturn
an upward trend
Verbs
to increase
to rise
to grow
to improve
to go up
To go down (a little)
Nouns
a decrease
a fall
a drop
a decline
a downturn
a downward trend
Verbs
to decrease
to fall (off)
to drop
to decline
to go down
to slip
To go up a lot
Nouns
a surge
an upsurge
a jump
a leap
Verbs
to surge
to take off
to shoot up
to soar
to rocket
to jump
to leap
8
To go down a lot
Nouns
a plunge
a slump
a crash
a tumble
Verbs
to plummet
to plunge
to slump
to crash
to sink
to tumble
No change
to remain stable
to level off
to stay at the same level
to remain constant
to stagnate
to stabilize
Change of direction
to peak
to reach a peak
to top out
to reach a low point
to bottom out
to recover
to rebound
to revive
To describe the degree of change
Adjectives
a dramatic
a considerable
a sharp
a significant
a substantial
a moderate
a slight
Adverbs
rise or fall
to rise or fall
dramatically
considerably
sharply
significantly
substantially
moderately
slightly
9
To describe the speed of change
Adjectives
an abrupt
a sudden
a rapid
a quick
a steady
a gradual
a slow
Adverbs
rise or fall
to rise or fall
abruptly
suddenly
rapidly
quickly
steadily
gradually
slowly
Notice that:
The verbs rise, grow, increase, and so on are NOT followed by the preposition up.
The verbs fall, drop, decrease, and so on are NOT followed by the preposition down.
Prepositions
to rise from ₤1m to ₤2m
to increase by 100%
a decrease of 50%
to fall from $2m to $1m
to fall by 50%
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