IELTS Writing - Academic Task 1 -
Vocabulary
The following words and phrases will help you describe trends:
Nouns | a rise an increase a surge a growth a peak a fluctuation a variation a period of stability a plateau a fall a decrease a decline a dip |
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Verbs | to rise to increase to surge to grow to peak to skyrocket to fluctuate to vary to fall to decrease to decline to dip to dive to plunge |
Phrases | to show an upward trend to show a downward trend to hit the highest point to hit the lowest point to reach a peak to show some fluctuation to fluctuate wildly to remain stable to remain static to remain unchanged to stay constant to reach a plateau to level off to flatten out the highest the lowest the second highest the third highest compared to compared with relative to |
Adverbs | sharply suddenly rapidly abruptly dramatically significantly steadily considerably markedly slightly gently gradually wildly |
Adjectives | sharp sudden rapid abrupt dramatic steep significant steady considerable marked slight gentle gradual |
Sample sentences
- There was a substantial increase in the value of stocks on March 15th.
- House prices rose dramatically in July.
- The number of tourists visiting New York fell sharply in October.
- The percentage of students walking to school continued to rise gradually over the ten year period from 2000-2010.
- There was a sharp increase in employee turnover after the strike.
- Interest in environmental issues has risen steadily over the last 10 years.
More useful words and phrases
- Percent – the word percent comes after a number
Examples:
More than 25% of the students are from Brazil.
More than 25 percent of the students come from Brazil. - Percentage - The word percentage comes after words like the, a, this and that. Often, it is preceded by an adjective.
Examples:
A small percentage of residents have lived in the building for more than 20 years.
The percentage of students who live on campus has fallen sharply since the fire. - For numbers up to ten, write the numbers in words. For numbers over 10, you can write the numbers in numbers.
Examples:
Five percent of the employees were late this month.
More than 50 percent of the students handed in their assignments late after the long weekend. - If the sentence starts with a number, always write it in words.
Examples: Wrong: 25 students were from China.
Right: Twenty-five students were from China.
Grammar
Take note of the following prepositions which you will need to describe dates, numbers and comparisons:
Dates
In December,
In 2005,
From 2001-2010,
By 1998,
Between 1965-1969
Numbers
Increase of 25%
Decreased by 10%
Fell from 200 in July to 150 in August
Comparison
Compared to
Compared with
Relative to