LESSON 3 HOW TO WRITE ABOUT DYNAMIC CHARTS

I. GENERAL INFORMATION
One type of question in Task 1 is to write about a dynamic chart or a graph which shows
trends, which are changes over time. You can be asked to write about different types of
graphs, such as line graphs, pie charts, tables or bar charts. For graphs with trends, you will
see a time period in the title of the graph (e.g. the annual earnings of three bakeries in London,
2000-2010).

II. LANGUAGE TO DESCRIBE TRENDS

Noun Verb Verb (past)

a rise rise rose

an increase increase increased
a growth grow, go up grew, went up
a soar soar soared
a surge surge surged
a climb climb climbed
a jump jump jumped

a peak peak peaked

an improvement improve improved
a recovery recover recovered

a fall fall fell

a decrease/decline decrease/decline decreased/declined
a drop drop dropped
a reduction reduce/go down reduced/went down

a dip dive dived/dove

a plunge plunge plunged
a plummet plummet plummeted
a fluctuation fluctuate fluctuated
a variation vary varied

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 a plateau (=stay at
leveled off/leveled
the same level after level off/level out
out
an increase)

Adj Adv
sudden suddenly
rapid rapidly
quick quickly
drammatical drammatically
sharp sharply
steep steeply
steady steadily
consistent consistently
smooth smoothly
continual continually
stable stably
gradual gradually
slow slowly
slight slightly

1. Verbs and adverbs

Exercise 1: Put the past simple of these verbs in the correct column of the table
below. Use a dictionary to help you if necessay.
decline decrease double drop fall go go up grow halve Improve
down
increase jump plummet plunge rise rocket shoot soar surge
up

Verbs to Verbs to Verbs to Verbs to

describe describe describe big describe big
increases decreases increases decreases
Declined

 ATTENTION
Verbs which describe big increases or decreases, like soared or plummeted, don’t need an
adverb, because we already know that they describe a large change. However, all the verbs in the
first two columns of the table above need an adverb, to tell the reader what kind of increase or
decrease you are talking about.

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 Exercise 2: Which of the adverbs in the box below describe:
1. a big change? 5. a slow change?
2. a small change? 6. a comment by the writer?
3. a medium-size change? 7. a consistent increase or decrease?
4. a fast change?

considerably dramatically gradually marginally

negligibly rapidly remarkably sharply significantly
slightly steadily strikingly

Grammar structure
Subject + verb + adverb
Example: V
 The price of oil rose gradually.
Noun phrase adv

 The price of oil has risen dramatically.

Exercise 3: Look at the graph below and complete these sentences with a suitable
verb and adverb
The graph below shows the proportion of the population aged 65 and over between
1940 and 2040 in three different countries.

1. The proportions of elderly people in the USA and Sweden …………………………… over the next
50 years.
2. After 2020, the percentage of elderly people in Japan is predicted to ……………………………
3. The figures for Japan ……………………………. between 1940 and 2000.
4. From 1980 to 2020, the proportion of population aged 65 and over in USA ……………………..
5. After 2020, the percentage of elderly people in USA is predicted to ……………………….

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 2. Adjectives and nouns
You can also describe changes using adjective and nouns. Most of the vocabulary is the same,
but you need to learn the adjective and noun forms.

Exercise 4: Complete this table with the noun forms of the verbs
past simple verb Noun Past simple Noun
verb
rose 1 a rise fluctuated 9 ……………………
fell 2 …………………… plunged 10 ……………………
levelled off 3 …………………… decreased 11 ……………………
declined 4 …………………… dipped 12 ……………………
soared 5 …………………… recovered 13 ……………………
plummeted 6 …………………… jumped 14 ……………………
increased 7 …………………… surged 15 ……………………
dropped 8 …………………… grew 16 ……………………

Exercise 5: Write the adjectival form of these adverbs. Check you spelling in a
dictionary.
1. dramatically ………………………… 5. remarkably …………………………
2. steadily ………………………… 6. gradually …………………………
3. considerably ………………………… 7. continually …………………………
4. negligibly ………………………… 8. significantly ....……………………
 Note: In most cases, to form an adjective, you just need to remove the –ly from the
adverb e.g. sharply – sharp. In some cases, you need to change the spelling of the
adjective a little bit e.g. stably – stable

Grammar structure
1.
There + was/ were + adj + N + in + noun phrase
Example
 There was a gradual rise in the price of oil.
Adj N Noun phrase
 There has been a sharp drop in the price of oil
2.
S + witnessed/ saw/ observed/ underwent + adj + N

Example
 The price of oil witnessed a sharp drop from 2000 to 2008.
 The number of students underwent a quick drop in 2005.
Exercise 6: Write a sentence with an adjective and noun to describe each of these
changes in the graph below.

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 The graph below shows the proportion of the population aged 65 and over between
1940 and 2040 in three different countries.

1. Japan, before 2000: ..............................................................................................................................................

2. Japan, after 2020: ..................................................................................................................................................
3. USA, 1940 – 2040: ................................................................................................................................................
4. Sweden, 1940 – 2040: .........................................................................................................................................
5. Japan, 1940-1960: ................................................................................................................................................

Exercise 7: Look at the graphs below and write two ways of descibing changes by
using verbs, adverbs or adjectives, nouns.

First way: First way:

...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
Second way: Second way:
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................

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 First way:
First way: ......................................................................................
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
...................................................................................... Second way:
Second way: ......................................................................................
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
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First way: First way:

...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
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Second way: Second way:
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
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First way: First way:

...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
Second way: Second way:
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
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 ......................................................................................

First way:
First way: ......................................................................................
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
...................................................................................... Second way:
Second way: ......................................................................................
...................................................................................... ......................................................................................

3. Using prepositions correctly

Dynamic data indicates changes over time. When describing this kind of data you need to use
trends language. This is where accurate use of prepositions will raise your grammar band
score.
Grammar accounts for 25% of your marks in IELTS writing. If the data is reported
inaccurately in academic task 1 you could also lose marks in task response.
3.1. Common prepositions
at / between /on / in / by / from – to / of / over /
during

A key point to consider here is whether the preposition is coming after the noun or the verb
and also if a specific number or statistic is included. For instance, here are some sentences
which can be seen in task 1 reports.
 Noun – ‘ There was an increase in the population after 1998′
 Noun – ‘ There was a population increase of 30% after 1998.
 Verb – ‘ The population increased by 20,000 after 1998′
In the first sentence above there is no specific statistic, however, in the second sentence above
you can see that the preposition is different as it is followed by a specific statistic. In sentence
3 after the verb ‘increased’ you need to use ‘by‘.
However, take a look at these 3 sentences below.
 Verb – ‘ Sales of cars dropped from 30,000 units to 10,500 units over a 3 year period’
 Noun – ‘ Car sales saw a decrease from 30,000 units to 10,500 units over a 3 year period’
 Verb – ‘Car sales increased from 10,000 units to 23,000 units over a 3 year period’
In these examples, the preposition is the same after a verb or noun. To express either a
downward or upward movement from one point to another, you can use from ….. to.
 What does this look like in a Line graph?

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 1. The proportion of passengers dropped from 400 to just under 200.
2. The proportion of passengers dropped by just over 200.
3. There was a decrease in passengers from 400 to just under200
As you can see, the start point is 400 and the end point is just under 200, so use ‘from ->
to’. However, if you want to report on the amount of change between the two points use the
preposition ‘by‘ as in sentence number 2.
Sentence number 3 shows a noun ‘a decrease‘ so we can use the preposition ‘in‘ after that.
 ATTENTION
Be careful when using ‘by’ and ‘to’.
Take a look at these examples of how to use ‘Decline by‘ and ‘Decline to‘ (it’s the same for a
rising trend: increase to / Increase by) in the Line graph below to describe the change from
April to May and May to June, we can write:

 From April to May the figure declined to 15%.

 From May to June the figure increased to 30%
In this Line graph below to describe the change from April to May and June to July I now need
to write:

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  From April to May the figure declined by 15%
 From June to July the figure increased by a very small amount.
 There is a big difference in the way these prepositions are used. Simple mistakes
with by and to can cost you points in task 1.
3.2. Prepositions for date / time ranges
Let’s take a look at using in / over / during / between / at. When describing time periods or
years or months you need to use ‘in‘ and ‘over‘. See the examples below taken from different
types of IELTS task 1 reports.
 ‘In’ + months / years ; ‘over / during’ + a set time period
 Car production increased by 20% in 2010
 Sales of iPhones declined in January
 Visitor numbers witnessed fluctuations over the 5 year period.
 Coal exports declined considerably over the two decades.
 Passenger numbers showed a slight increase during the whole period

 ‘Between’ / ‘and’ is used for a start and end time

 Car production increased sharply between 2010 and 2012.
 The proportion of visitors to the museum saw
declines between January and November.

 Using ‘begin at’ / ‘end at’ / ‘stood at’

 The proportion of car exports stood at 30,000 in 2012.
 Sales figures for electronics ended at just under 25% in the last quarter.
 In 1990 the figure for nuclear energy used in France began at 50%.
Exercise 8: Take a look at the charts below, fill in the blanks by using these words
below (some can be used more than once)

in / at / between – and / from / to / by / during / of

Note that these are just sentences for practice purposes only, this is not a model answer.

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 The monthly expenditure on children’s sports saw a rise (1) ______ 20 pounds (2) ____ a little
over 30 pounds (3) ______ 2008 (4) ____ 2014.
Figures for participation in athletics started (5)___ around 1 million children (6) ___ 2008.
This remained constant until 2010. However, (7) _______ 2010 (8)_____ 2012 the proportion
(9)____ children taking part in Athletics rose (10)____ 5 million with a slight dip (11) ___ the
end of the period.
The number (12) ___ children taking part in swimming began (13) ___ a little less than 2.5
million (14) ___ 2008 and saw a steady increase ending (15) ___ around 4 million.
The figure for youngsters participating in football stood (16)___ just over 7.5 million (17) ___
2008. (18) ___2010 (19)___2014 it increased (20)___ approximately 1 million. All three sports
showed increases (21)______ the whole period.
Exercise 9: Complete the following sentences using an appropriate preposition
For at on to in by from between
of up down with and during
1. ………… 1990 …………. 2000, there was a drop ………… 15%
2. GM car sales peaked ………… 2,000 in 1999.
3. The chart shows a decline ………… 35% ……… the bird population.
4. There has been a significant increase ……… the number of people aged over eighty.
5. There have been dramatic cuts ………… the level of spending on the elderly, reaching a low
…….11%.
6. Profits rose ……….a low of 4.5 million to a high of 8 million in 2008.
7. Canda and Australia’s wheat exports fluctuated ………….. 5 million and 6 million
respectively.
8. There were significant improvements ………… healthcare ………. 1980.
9. The statistics show a reduction ………… 20% …………. energy costs as a result ……… the
measures.
10. Profits fell ………… 10% from 2,000 to 1,800 in 1970s.
11. The radio station experienced a fall ……….. 36,000 listeners to a total audience ……… 2.1
million.
12. The number of students fell ……….. a low of 1,500 in the second half of the year.
13. Cases of AIDS shot ……… from 2,400 in 1996 to 4,000 in 2004.
14. Demand reached a peak ………. 45,000 in early March.
15. The number of cars sold remained unchanged in 1999 ………. three million.
16. Students do between three ……….. four hours homework a night.
17. The number of accidents …………. 1999 was slightly higher than that of 2000.
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18. The figure rose steadily ……………. The four years between 1997 ………… 2001.
19. Oil production rose dramatically at first but then leveled out ………… 70$ a barrel.
20. There was an increase …………… 50,000 between 1990 and 1992.
III. TENSES
Using the appropriate tenses in IELTS writing task 1 is essential if you want to get a high band
score.
The key is to look at the title of the chart and the information contained on both axes to
establish what time frame is used. This will help you establish what tense you should use.
Example:
 If the time is one point in the past, e.g. January 1990, then we should use the past
tense.
 If it has projections for the future, e.g. 2045, we use future tenses.
 It there is no time, we use present simple.
Below are a range of tenses that could be used in task 1. Remember, the tense you use will
depend on the information displayed in the graph. This is not a complete list of tenses and an
awareness of all the English tenses will help you achieve the IELTS score you need.

1. Present Perfect:
We use this tense generally to talk about an action that happened at an unspecified time
before now. The exact time period is not important.
In writing task 1, we use this tense to talk about changes in data that have happened over a
period of time.
Example
 The price of oil has fallen by $5 a barrel every week since July.
2. Present Perfect Continuous
We use this tense to show that something started in the past and has continued up until now.
Example
 Oil prices have been decreasing since July.
3. Future Perfect
We use this tense to state that something will be finished by a particular time in the future.
We often use it with ‘by’ or ‘in’.
Example
 The price of oil will have reached $300 a barrel by 2020.
4. Past Simple
Use this tense to talk about an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past.
Example
 The price of oil fell from $150 in Jan 2014 to $50 in Jan 2015.

Exercise 10: Fill the gaps in the graph description with the past simple verbs
below.
Verbs:
rose to, were, used, reached, was (x2)

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In 1999, the proportion of people using the Internet in the USA ______ about 20%. The figures
for Canada and Mexico ______ lower, at about 10% and 5% respectively. In 2005, Internet
usage in both the USA and Canada ______ around 70% of the population, while the figure for
Mexico ______ just over 25%.
By 2009, the percentage of Internet users ______ highest in Canada. Almost 100% of Canadians
______ the Internet, compared to about 80% of Americans and only 40% of Mexicans.
Exercise 11: Look at the chart and fill in the gaps with the past simple or present
perfect simple of the verbs in brackets

1. The chart shows the percentage of American students who ............. (use) illicit
drugs since 2000.

2. The proportion of female students who have ever used illicit drugs ............. (increase) by
more than 50% since 2000.

3. In 2010, the percentage of American male students reported to be using drugs ............. (rise)
to 50%.

4. From the graph we can see that illicit drug use among American female
students ............. (rise) each year.

5. The percentage of male students who used illicit drugs ............. (be) greater than the
percentage of female students from 2000 to 2010.

6. However, American female students ............. (overtake) male students in drug usage since
2010.

7. The overall drug-use rate among American students ............. (grow) each year and the most
significant rise ............. (occur) between 2000 and 2005.

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IV. MODEL ANSWER
The graph below shows the proportion of the population aged 65 and over between
1940 and 2040 in three different countries.

The line graph compares the percentage of people aged 65 or more in three countries over a
period of 100 years.
It is clear that the proportion of elderly people increases in each country between 1940 and
2040. Japan is expected to see the most dramatic changes in its elderly population.
In 1940, around 9% of Americans were aged 65 or over, compared to about 7% of Swedish
people and 5% of Japanese people. The proportions of elderly people in the USA and Sweden
rose gradually over the next 50 years, reaching just under 15% in 1990. By contrast, the
figures for Japan remained below 5% until the early 2000s.
Looking into the future, a sudden increase in the percentage of elderly people is predicted for
Japan, with a jump of over 15% in just 10 years from 2030 to 2040. By 2040, it is thought that
around 27% of the Japanese population will be 65 years old or more, while the figures for
Sweden and the USA will be slightly lower, at about 25% and 23% respectively.
(178 words, band 9)

V. PRACTICE
Write the body paragraph of the following task
The graph below shows UK acid rain emissions, measured in millions of tones,
from four different sectors between 1990 and 2007.

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VI. HOMEWORK
Write the body paragraphs of the following tasks
1. International migration in the UK

2. Internet Users as percentage of population

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