Example:

There was a gradual rise in the price of oil.

There has been a sharp drop in the price of oil.
Possible adjectives

 gradual
 moderate
 modest
 sharp
 dramatic
 slight
 steep
 steady
 significant
 considerable
 rapid
Possible nouns:

 variation
 decline
 decrease
 dip
 drop
 fall
 peak
 fluctuation
 growth
 increase
 rise
 slump

2. Noun phrase + verb + adverb

Example:
The price of oil rose gradually.
The price of oil has risen dramatically.
Possible verbs:

 rise
 jump
 grow
 climb
 increase
 rocket
 fall
 drop
 decline
 decrease
 go down
 plummet
 plunge
Possible adverbs:

 gradually
 moderately
 modestly
 sharply
 dramatically
 slightly
 steeply
 steadily
 significantly
 considerably
 rapidly
 slowly
Describing Increases and Decreases
When describing any of the charts in IELTS writing task 1, you might have to
describe increases and decreases. There are three main ways you can
describe increases and decreases.

1. Noun phrase + verb + adverb

Example:
The price of property fell sharply
The percentage of homes dropped dramatically.

2. There + be + noun + in + noun phrase

Example:
There was a fall in literacy levels.
There has been an increase in the cost of coffee.

3. Using fractions
Example:
The price of oil halved in less than a year.
The price of oil have halved since July.
By July, the price of oil has halved.
Making Comparisons
IELTS writing task 1 will often require you to make comparisons between data
sources, groups and times. Here are five grammatical structures you can use
to make comparisons.

1. More/few/less + noun + than

Example:
Overall, more people preferred public transport than taxis.

2. of one syllable -er + than

Example:
A higher number for people preferred public transport than taxis.

3. More/less + adj. of more than one syllable + than

Example:
Taxis were more popular than public transport.
4. of one syllable -est.
Example:
The highest % of commuters preferred taxis.

5. The most/least + adj. of more than one syllable.

Example:
The least popular mode of transport was buses.
Summarising
IELTS writing task 1 is essentially a summarising task. Your overview
paragraph should contain two or three sentences summarising the main
features of the graph. In order to help you do this, here are some short
phrases.

 To summarise, the most marked change is….

 Overall it is clear….
 Overall the majority/minority….
 In sum, the most noticeable trend is….
Don’t say ‘to conclude’. This is only for discursive essays.
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, for example January 1990, then we
should use the past tense.
 If it has projections for the future, for example 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.
Approximations, Percentages and Fractions
In many of the IELTS writing task 1 questions you will have to deal with
percentages. This is a good opportunity to express these percentages in a
different way and boost your score. A way of varying this language is to
express them as fractions or proportions.
Remember that you should vary your language as much as possible in order
to score high in the ‘lexical resource’ part of the test.
It is also fine to use approximations, for example, 49% can be expressed as
nearly a half.
Below are a range of expressions that can be used to express percentages.
Fractions
73%- nearly three quarters
51%- just over a half
49%- just under a half
32%- nearly a third
3%- a tiny fraction
50%- exactly a half
26%- roughly one quarter
49%- around a half
24%- almost a quarter
77%- approximately three quarters
Proportions
70%- a large proportion
71%- a significant majority
15% a small minority
3%- an insignificant minority

Verbs to describe an upward trend

The following verbs can be used to describe a trend or pattern that goes up.

 climb (past: climbed)

 go up (past: went up)
 grow (past: grew)
 increase (past: increased)
 jump (past: jumped)
 rise (past: rose)
 rocket (past: rocketed)

Sentence examples using words that show an upward trend:

 The number of enrolments increased significantly between 2005 and 2010.

 Production rose from 800 units in May to 1000 units the following month.
Verbs to describe a downward trend
The following verbs can be used to describe a trend or pattern that goes down.

 decline (past: declined)

 decrease (past: decreased)
 drop (past: dropped)
 fall (past: fell)
 go down (past: went down)
 plummet (past: plummeted) = to fall or drop suddenly in amount or value
 plunge (past: plunged) = to fall or drop suddenly in amount or value

Plunge and Plummet, when describing trends, have the same meaning.

Sentence examples using words that show a downward trend:

 Prices of Model X dropped significantly once Model Y became available on the market.
 Company profits decreased in 2013 by 15%.

Words and phrases used to describe a stable trend

To describe a more or less stable pattern, you can use the following expressions:

 maintain (past: maintained)

 remain (past: remained)
 stay (past: stayed)
 constant
 stable
 steady
 unchanged

Adverbs used when describing trends

Adverbs describe HOW something happens. They usually come after a verb.

 sharply, rapidly, quickly, steeply

 considerably, significantly, substantially
 steadily, gradually, moderately
 slightly, slowly

To see the degree of intensity of these adverbs, look at the chart below.

Academic Writing Task 1 Summary Chart

Nouns used when describing trends
 decline
 decrease
 dip (a momentarily small drop in the level of something)
 drop
 fall
 fluctuation (= an irregular rising and falling in number or amount; a variation)
 growth
 increase
 peak (= the highest point)
 rise
  slump (= a severe or prolonged fall in the price, value, or amount of something)
 variation (= a change or difference in condition, amount, or level)

Quick IELTS Academic Writing Tips when describing

trends
Do not describe every small upwards or downwards movement. You need to look at the important
trends or characteristics and give a general overview.

You will normally use verbs in the past tense when describing trends though always look for dates to
confirm which tense to use.

Do not write about things that do not appear in the graph. You shouldn't give an opinion, just
describe the information that appears.

Even if your grammar (and vocabulary) is perfect, you will lose marks for not showing an accurate
understanding.

Introducing the topic

 The graph shows… / The table reveals…

 The chart displays… / The diagram illustrates…
 Some interesting facts concerning… are revealed in the diagram.
 Several key trends are revealed by the graph showing…

Introducing the first set of data

 Beginning with the…

 To begin with the…
 Let me begin by describing the…

Introducing the second set of data

 Meanwhile, the… shows that…

 As for the… , it shows that…
 Turning to the… , it can be seen that…
Introducing the first major trend

 First of all, it is clear that…

 Most noticeably of all, it can be seen that…
 The first result worth pointing out is that…

Introducing lesser trends

 Another trend that can be observed is that…

 It is also worth pointing out that…
 Also worth noting is that…

Exceptions to the main trend

 However, this was not always the case.

 However, it should be pointed out that…
 There was one noticeable exception, however.

Comparing and contrasting

 Similarly, … / By contrast, …
 A similar trend can be observed in…
 The results for… , however, reveal a markedly different trend.

Adding figures

 The figures were X and Y respectively.

 …, at X. / …, with Y. (Usage note: use ‘at’ when you mean ‘the figure was’; use ‘with’
when you mean ‘something had’)
 …, at/with X and Y respectively.
Concluding and summarising

 To sum up, … / In summary, … / In short, …

 Overall, … / On the whole, …
 The main thing that can be observed here is that…