This is a short list of vital words and phrases to memorise in order to do well in IELTS Academic Writing Part 1 line graph tasks. A bigger list of useful phrases and over 300 pages of materials to give input on, practice and give feedback on all kinds of IELTS Academic Writing tasks are available at https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/ielts-writing/
The most useful phrases for IELTS Writing Task 1 line graph task introductions
Rephrasing the question/ A very brief description of the line graph given
- The line graph (given) shows trends in… from… to…
- The graph gives data on how… changed between… and…
- The line graph on the left gives (past) figures on…, whereas the one on the right…
- The graph at the top of the page gives information on…, and the one below is a similar collection of statistics on…
Summary sentence/ description of what you notice straightaway about the graph
- Over the whole period (given),…
- The biggest change is…
- Although there is not much variation in…,…
- From the beginning to end of the period shown, we can easily see…
- The main trend…
- The trend is a mix of…
- What stands out is the huge change in…
- The trend which stands out is…
Sentence describing the structure of/ organisation of/ plan for (the body of) Task 1 line graph task essays
- I will describe the first… and then turn my attention to…
- I will look at the first half of the data before I move on to...
- I will explain the upward trends, then look at the flat and downward sections of the data.
- I will describe the similarities between the lines and then write about the differences between them (in the two paragraphs below).
- I will summarise the data related to…, then focus on…
- I will write about the top line graph, then do the same for the bottom one.
- I will pick out some key features of the line graph on the left, then summarise the figures in the righthand graph.
- The data can be split into… and…, which I will explain in that order below.
The most useful phrases for the body of IELTS Writing Task 1 line graph task essays
Starting body paragraphs
Starting any body paragraph
- According to the data given on…
- From the information shown on…, it can be seen that…
Starting the second (or third) body paragraph
- Turning (our attention) to the other graph,…
- Moving on to the remaining lines,…
- In (complete) contrast to the period described above, when it comes to…
- Compared to the first half of the period, in the rest of the time shown…
- In common with the lines described in the previous paragraph,…
Describing trends/ changes over time
Upward movements
- advance/ climb/ expand/ go up/ grow (grew/ grown)/ increase/ rise (rose risen)
- boom/ explode/ jump/ leap/ rocket/ shoot up (shot up)/ soar/ take off (took off taken off)
- creep up
- (almost/ approximately/ more or less/ more than) double/ triple/ quadruple
Downward movements
- collapse/ crash/ dive/ plummet/ plunge
- decline/ decrease/ drop/ fall (fell fallen)/ go down/ shrink (shrank shrunk)/ sink (sank sunk)
- (approximately) halve
Big changes
- dramatically
- … fourfold/ fivefold/ …fold
- sharply
Small changes/ Slow changes
- gradually
- (very) slightly
Straight diagonal lines (= going up or down in a straight line, without bending)
- steadily/ at the same rate
Not straight lines
- accelerate/ increase exponentially/ … more and more rapidly
- slow down/ continue increasing, but not at the same rate/ … less (and less) rapidly
Up and down trends
Up and then down
- (pass its) peak (and then fall back)
- (rise but then) slip back
- (reach a) peak/ (all-time/ new) high (before…)
- (briefly/ temporarily) reach…
Down and then up
- (decline and then) bounce back/ rebound/ pick up/ regain lost ground/ recover
- (experience a) dip (and then bounce back)
- sink to a low point (before its later recovery)
- fall to a new low (for a period of…)
Up and down and up (repeatedly)
- experience (some) turbulence
- fluctuate
Becoming flat
- flatten out/ level off
- plateau
- bottom out
stabilise
Trends words connecting two different trends/ Comparing the movement of two different lines
- catch up (with)
- fall back (against)/ slip back (against)
- overtake (overtook overtaken)/ pass/ surpass
- fall behind
(Suitable) verb forms for describing future information
- … will…
- … is expected to/ predicted to/ projected to/ forecast to…
Giving vague data and times
- in the first half/ second half of…
- about/ approximately/ around/ more or less/ roughly
- just under/ nearly/ almost/ slightly lower than/ a little less than
- above/ (just) over/ (slightly) more than
Giving exact data and times
- to be precise
- to be specific/ specifically
- namely
- (…)
Comparing and contrasting (the lines and parts of lines)
Similarities
- (extremely/ very/ fairly) similar
- In common with…,…
- … share…
- … both…
- …, as does…
- A major similarity is…
- Like…,…
- … have (two/ several/ some) things in common, including…
Differences
- The most obvious difference/ The clearest difference…
- An obvious difference/ A clear difference
- Compared to…
- …, while/ whereas…
- In (complete) contrast (to…),…
- Unlike…,…
- This contrasts with…
- The biggest/ main difference between… and… is…
- A major difference…
- … (almost/ almost the exact) the opposite…
- … shows a rather different pattern, namely…
Describing times
- (…) after/ before (…)
- (at/ near) the beginning/ end of…
- already
- between… and…
- by (the time)…
- from… (to…)
- in the following…(s)/ over the next …(s)
- (more or less) in the middle of…
- meanwhile
- next,…
- until…
- when that happens,…/ when…