Useful Vocabulary for IELTS Writing Task 1

Useful phrases & words to describe a chart, table, graph,  explain a process, give overall information in IELTS Writing Task 1

Explaining what the task shows
The table/ bar chart/ / pie chart/line graph/ illustration/ flow chart/ map/ diagram/  figures… +represents/shows/presents statistics on/ gives data on/ compares
The vertical axis/ y axis is… The horizontal axis/ x axis represents…
Explaining the paragraph structure
I will start by explaining…
First of all, I will focus on…
First, I will look at…
Firstly, I will describe…
The information will be divided into… and… and looked at in that order.
In the next paragraph I will… and the following paragraph will… and then I will… and after that I will… and the final paragraph will be on…

Selecting the most important information/ Giving overall information
The first thing you notice looking at the graph is…
… stands out (because…)
The biggest/ most noticeable/ largest/ most obvious/ most important difference/ similarity trend is…
Overall…
The main trend…
Over the entire period shown,…
It can be said that in general,…

Mentioning parts of what the page shows
The first row/ second row/ last row/ top row/ bottom row
The first column/ second column/ third column/ last column/ left-hand column/ middle column/ right-hand column

Stage of the process
in the North/ Northwest/ Southeast
top right/ bottom left/ middle/ centre
segment
arrow
axis/ axes

Upward trends (verbs)
Climb/ Rise/ go up/ increase/ grow/ escalate/ expand/ take off / soar / double/ triple
to peak/ to grow/ to skyrocket

Upward trends (nouns)
an increase/ a rise/ a surge/ a growth / a peak

Downward trends (verbs)
Fall / drop/ Plunge / dive/ Crash / Decrease / decline/ Deteriorate /bottom out / plummet / Shrink (nearly) / halve

Downward trends (nouns)
A drop / A crash /A fall / A decline / A deterioration / A dip

Going up and down
Fluctuate/  Reach a peak / Be unstable / Recover/ Pick up / Bounce back

Not changing
Flatten out / Remain stable

Big changes
Substantial(ly)/ Significant(ly)/ Dramatic(ally)/ Sharp(ly) / Considerable(/bly) Dive/ Plunge/ Plummet / Crash/ Rocket/ Shoot up/  Take off / Soar/

Small changes
Slight(ly)/ Gradual(ly) Creep up

Comparing
(far/  substantially/ much/ significantly/ slightly) …er/ more/ less…
(not) as…as…
(very) similar/  almost identical / almost the same
in some ways similar to…
Comparing the… with/ to…

Contrasting
While…,…
In contrast,…
… shows a rather/ very different pattern/ trend.
We can contrast this with…
… is almost the exact opposite.
… is (a/ the) (major) exception…

Sequencing
Some time later…
After that…
The next/ following stage is…
This is followed by…
This reoccurs…
In the following hours/ days/ weeks/ months/ years,…
Subsequently,…
…, after which…
As soon as…,…

Starting the second main paragraph
Looking at…
Moving on to…
Turning our attention to…
In contrast to the… above,…

Conclusion/ Summary (only if you can’t find another way of reaching 150 words)
We can therefore see that…
Together, the graph and bar chart show that…

 

DOWNLOAD Useful Vocabulary for IELTS Writing Task 1 (PDF VERSION)

DOWNLOAD VOCAB FOR IELTS WRITING TASK 1