Vocabulary For Academic IELTS Writing Task 1 (part 2)

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Last Updated: Tuesday, 03 July 2018 12:40

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You do not need to write down every bit of information presented in the graph. Rather, you are expected to write the most significant features of the graph and the highest and lowest points are two significant information you should not miss in your writing. Following is a list of useful vocabulary to learn by heart and to use them in your graph response.

Graph Writing Vocabulary Index:

Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3  |  Part 4  |  Part 5  |

Vocabulary to represent highest and lowest points in graphs:

 Example:

1. The price of the oil reached a peak amounting $20 in February and again touched the lowest point amounting only $10 in July.
2. Student enrollment in foreign Universities and Colleges increased dramatically hitting a peak of over 20 thousand in 2004.
3. The highest number of books was sold in July while it was lowest in December.
4. The oil price reached a pick in 2003 while it was lowest in 2006.
5. The selling volume of the DVD hit a pick with 2 million copies sold in a month but after just three months it reached the bottom with only 20 thousand sold in a month. 

Vocabulary to show fluctuations/ups and downs/ rise and fall in Verb forms:

• Be erratic
• Rise and fall erratically
• Changes sporadically
• Rise and fall irregularly
• Changes Intermittently

Date, month & year related Vocabulary and Grammatical rules:

• Between  ...(year/ month)...  and  ...(year/ month)...
• From  ...(year/ month/ day/date)...  to  ...(year/ month/day/date)...
• In  ...(year/ month)...
• On  ...(day/ day of the week/ a date)...
• At ......,  In ......,  By ......
• During  ... (year)...
• Over the period/ over the century/ later half of the year/ the year...
• Over the next/ past/ previous ........ days/ weeks/ months/ years/ decades...

Presenting Percentages:

You can present a percentage data in one of the three different ways. It is suggested that you use all these formats in your report writing instead of repeating the same style to show percentages in your writing.

% = In percentage / in %. (20%, 25 percentage, ten per cent etc.)

% = In proportion. (two out of five, every student out of three etc. )

% = In fraction. (one-third, two-fifth, a quarter etc.)

Vocabulary to show how many times...

• Exactly the same.
• Roughly the same
• Practically the same
• Twice
• Thrice
• Four times
• Five times
• ...............
• Ten times
• ...............
• Hundred times.

Vocabulary to show how much changed...

• Halved
• Equalled
• Doubled
• Trebled / tripled
• Quadrupled (fourfold /four times)
• Pentadrupled (fivefold /five times)
• Hexadrupled (sixfold /six times)
• Septupled (sevenfold /seven times)
• Octupled  (Eightfold/eight times)
• Nonupled (Ninefold/ nine times)
• .................
• Centupled (hundredfold/ hundred times)

Vocabulary to represent comparison in graphs:

 Example: 

1. The number of high-level women executives is well beneath than the number of male executives in this organisation, where approximately 2000 people work in executive levels.
2. About 1000 people died in the highway car accident in 2003 which is well above than the statistics of all other years.
3. The number of domestic-violence cases was just below 500 in March which is just a little over than the previous months.
4. The average rainfall in London in 2014 was just above than the average of other two cities.
5. The salaries of male executives in three out of four companies were well above than the salaries of female executives in 1998.
    

Expressions to focus on an item in the graph:

Compare and contrast:

Vocabulary to present Linkers:
However, On the other hand, Similarly, On the contrary, Meanwhile, In contrast, By comparison.

Vocabulary to show that something/a trend is similar or the same:

Use the following vocabularies if both subjects are the same/ identical:

... Identical to/ Identical with ...
... Equal to with ...
... Exactly the same ...
... The same as ...
... Precisely the same ...
... Absolutely the same ...
... jus the same as ...

Use the following vocabularies if both subjects are not identical but similar:

... Almost the same as ...
... Nearly the same as ...
... Practically the same as ...
... Almost identical/ similar ...
... About the same as ...

Way to show that something/a trend is just the reverse/opposite:

The reverse is the case...
It is quite the opposite/ reverse...

Rules of Time Preposition use:

'In'

?? Use preposition 'in' when you talk about years, months, decades, centuries, seasons.

Example:
Years= in 1998, in 2015 etc.
Months= in January, in December etc.
Decades= in the nineties, in the seventies etc.
Centuries= in the 19th century, in the 14th century, in the 1980s etc. 
Seasons= in summer, in winter, in autumn etc.

?? Use preposition 'in' to talk about past or future.

Example:
Past time= in 1980, in the past, in 1235, in the ice age, in the seventies, in the last century etc.
Future time = in 2030, in the future, in the next century etc.

?? Use preposition 'in' when you talk about a long period.

Example:
in the ice age, in the industrial age, in iron age etc.

'On'

?? Use preposition 'on' when you talk about days (days of the weeks or special days).

Example:
Days of the week= on Sunday, on Friday, on Tuesday. 
Special days= on New Year's Day, on your birthday, on Independence Day, on holiday, on wedding day etc. 

?? Use preposition 'on' when you talk about dates.

Example:
on July 4th, on 21st January 2015, on 5th May etc.

?? Use preposition 'on'  when you talk about times (like morning/ afternoon/ evening/ night) of a day. 

Example:
on Friday morning, on Saturday afternoon, on Sunday evening, on Monday evening etc.

However, notice the below list that shows a further use of preposition 'in' and 'on' for periods of the days versus periods. This is often confusing and mistakenly used by IELTS candidates. Look at those, notice the use and memorise it. 

'At'

?? Use preposition 'at' when you need to express an exact time.

Example:
At eight o'clock, at 10: 45 am, at two p.m, at nine o'clock.

?? Use preposition 'at' when you talk about meal times

Example:
At breakfast time, at lunchtime, at dinner time etc.

?? Use preposition 'at' when you talk about weekends, holiday periods, or the night time.

Example:
At the weekend, at Christmas, at Easter, at night etc.

Words to make a comparison / contrast:

A bit/ slightly/ a little/ only just/ approximately/ about/ almost/ precisely/ quite/ nearly/ considerably/ a huge/ a great deal/ quite a lot/ completely/ exactly...

Example:
? This year population growth of the country is slightly larger than the previous year.
? This year population grown is almost twice than 2007.
? Sale of the company has increased quite a lot this year.

Using Appropriate Prepositions:
You must use the correct preposition in the IELTS writing task 1 to get a high score. Be accurate about the uses of to, by, of, off, in, on, for etc.

Examples:
? Papers are sold by the ream.
? Oranges are purchased and sold by the dozen.
? Students enrollment in the University has increased by 2% this year.
? Eggs are counted in dozens.
? Rice is measured in kg.
? He is junior to me by 4 years.
? The employees are paid per week in this factory.
? All these products are made of glasses.

Vocabulary - Using the appropriate 'Prepositions':
? It started at..., The sale started at $20..., It peaked at...
?Itr reached at/to..., It reached the lowest point /nadir at...
?It increased to 80 from 58. It decreased from 10 to 3.
?There was a drop of six units. It dropped by 3 units.
?It declined by 15%. There was a 10% drop in the next three years.

Formal and Informal expressions and words:

Few more informal expressions with their formal versions are given below. Since IELTS is a formal test, your writing should be formal as well. Using informal words or expressions should be avoided. Some of the informal words are so frequently used that it would be tough for you to eliminate them from your writing. However, we would suggest you make a habit of using formal words and expressions instead- for your performance and band score's sake.

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