Vocabulary for Graphs 

Going Up
•    Rose
•    Went up
•    Increased
•    Grew
•    Shot up
•    Surged
•    Rocketed

Going Down

• decreased
• fell
• dropped
• declined
• Went down
• Plunged
• Plummeted

No Change
•    stayed the same
•    remained constant
•    stabilised
•    remained steady
•    were unchanged
•    did not change
•    remained stable

Up and Down
•    fluctuated
•    undulated

Small Changes - Adjectives / Adverbs

•    gently
•    gradually
•    slightly
•    steadily
•    a little

Large Changes - Adverbs / Adjectives

•    suddenly
•    sharply
•    dramatically
•    steeply
•    a lot

High Points
•    reached a peak (peak when the graph looks like the "peak" of a mountain)
•    peaked
•    reached their highest level

Low Points
•    fell to a low
•    sank to a trough
•    reached a bottom

Expressions of Time
•    in 2012/ recent years
•    over the year/ period
•    between 1980 and 2012 
•    from 1980 until 2012
•    since (point of time) May/ 2011
•    for (period of time) the period / five months

Examples Using Noun and Verb Forms

•    Sales rose from $50 to $140/ There was a rise in sales of $90
•    Sales fell to 25 million dollars  in 1998/ there was a fall in sales of 25 million dollars in 1998
•    Sales fell by 2%/ there was a slight fall in sales of 2%
•    It peaked at 23%/ it reached a peak of 23%
•    it fluctuated between 5 and 8 percent, there was a fluctuation of 3%

Useful introductory expressions: 

The graph shows / indicates / depicts / illustrates

From the graph it is clear
It can be seen from the graph
As can be seen from the graph,
As is shown / illustrated by the graph,
Example: The graph shows the percentage of children using supplements in a place over a year. 

Useful time expressions: 

over the next... / for the following... (for the following two months... over the next six months...)
from ... to / between ... and (from June to August... between June and August...)
during (during the first three months...)

Warning!
Per cent is the word form of the symbol %. We can write 10% or 10 per cent. Percentage is the
noun form: The percentage of children using supplements. NOT ...
 
Note!
You can use a combination of adjective + noun, or verb + adverb, to avoid repeating the same
phrase.
Example: There was a sharp decrease in the numbers. The numbers decreased sharply.

Самая большая ошибка, которую допускают студенты – это описание всех показателей
графика по порядку. Например, перечисление изменений в хронологическом порядке, так, как
они и расположены на оси координат. Либо же просто перечисление изменений,  которые вы
видите на графике. При таком подходе вы теряете баллы. Что от вас требуется – это
отметить тенденции и закономерности, сделать обобщения, и привести примеры. В
следующем видео именно об этом и идет речь.