Опис графіків і тенденцій

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You describe graphs and charts in university reports, lab write-ups, business presentations and in exam tasks such as IELTS Academic Writing Task 1. The reader wants the same thing every time: what the chart shows, what the main trends are, and the key figures that support them, without your opinion or guesses about the causes. A clear structure and a small set of precise verbs and prepositions do most of the work.

Structure

1. Introduction. One sentence that says what the graph or chart shows: the subject, the unit, the place and the period. Paraphrase the title; do not copy it.
2. Overview. Two or three sentences with the most important features: the overall direction, the biggest change, the highest and lowest values. No detailed numbers here. In IELTS the overview is required, and many candidates lose marks by leaving it out.
3. Details, part one. Group the data logically, for example by period or by category, and support each point with figures.
4. Details, part two. The remaining group, again with figures and comparisons.

Do not add a conclusion with your own opinion, and do not explain causes that the chart does not show.

Choose tenses by the time on the chart: the past simple for past years (sales rose), the present simple when no time is given (the chart shows), and future forms for projections (is expected to rise, is projected to reach). The past perfect is useful with by: By 2020, internet use had overtaken television.

Useful phrases

Introducing and giving an overview:

Purpose	Phrase
say what the chart shows	The graph shows / illustrates … ; The chart compares …
give the period	between 2000 and 2020; over a ten-year period
start the overview	Overall, … ; The most striking feature is … ; It is clear that …

Describing change:

Direction	Verbs	Nouns
up	rise (rose, risen), increase, grow (grew, grown), climb	a rise, an increase, growth
down	fall (fell, fallen), decrease, decline, drop	a fall, a decrease, a decline, a drop
no change	remain stable, level off, stabilise (also spelt stabilize)	a period of stability
up and down	fluctuate	a fluctuation
highest or lowest point	peak at, reach a peak of, hit a low of, recover	a peak, a low

Describing speed and size:

Adverb, after a verb	Adjective, before a noun
rose dramatically / sharply / significantly	a dramatic / sharp / significant rise
fell steadily / gradually	a steady / gradual fall
increased slightly	a slight increase

Numbers and prepositions:

Meaning	Pattern	Example
the size of the change	by	Prices rose by 5%.
the end point	to	Prices rose to £40.
start and end	from … to	Prices rose from £35 to £40.
the level at a point in time	at, stand at	In 2010 unemployment stood at 8%.
the change as a noun	of	a rise of 5%
approximate figures	approximately, roughly, just over, just under, nearly	just under a third
comparing	whereas, while, compared with, twice as high as	Car use rose, whereas cycling fell.
shares	a quarter, one in five, the majority, a small proportion	one in five households

Model text

The line graph compares the average number of hours per week that adults in one country spent watching television, using the internet and reading between 2005 and 2020.

Overall, time spent online rose dramatically, while television viewing declined and reading remained fairly stable. By the end of the period, the internet had overtaken television as the most time-consuming of the three activities.

In 2005, adults watched television for about 18 hours a week, compared with just under 5 hours online. Television viewing then fell steadily, dropping to roughly 11 hours by 2020.

Internet use followed the opposite trend. It climbed gradually until 2010 and then increased sharply, overtaking television in 2015 and reaching 21 hours a week in 2020. Reading changed very little: the figure fluctuated between 4 and 5 hours throughout the period and stood at 4.5 hours in 2020, almost exactly the same as in 2005.

Common mistakes

• ✗ Sales increased on 20%.
  ✓ Sales increased by 20%.
  Ukrainian and Russian use на for the size of a change (зросли на 20%, выросли на 20%); English uses by. Use to for the final level.
• ✗ Prices raised sharply in 2019.
  ✓ Prices rose sharply in 2019. The company raised its prices.
  Raise needs an object, like піднімати / поднимать; rise has no object, like підніматися / подниматься. The forms are rise, rose, risen.
• ✗ In 2010 year the number of tourists grew up.
  ✓ In 2010 the number of tourists grew.
  English does not add year after a date (у 2010 році, в 2010 году), and grow up means to become an adult, not to increase.
• ✗ The amount of students rose. The percent of students rose.
  ✓ The number of students rose. The percentage of students rose.
  Amount is for uncountable nouns (the amount of money), number for countable ones. Percent comes after a figure (20 percent); the noun is percentage.
• ✗ The internet became more popular because people bought smartphones.
  ✓ The internet overtook television as the most time-consuming activity.
  A chart description reports what the data show. Unless the chart gives a reason, do not invent one.

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