DESCRIBING TRENDS, GRAPHS, AND CHANGES

In business and everyday English, you sometimes have to describe changes in trends
(movement or tendency), graphs, and diagrams.

In the business context, you may have to describe trends in reports, meetings, and
presentations. In everyday life, you could describe changes in any subject because
things change all the time!

Describing changes and trends generally consists of three parts:

Use a verb (or an adjective and a noun) to describe movement

Describe the speed or size of the movement
Explain the reason or consequence of the change

You can also view it this way: Verb + Speed or Size + Result/Reason/Consequence

Example
In 2011, Samsung's profits increased considerably thanks to its successful Galaxy S
series.

Here are some verbs you can use to describe change and movement.

 Upward Movement Horizontal Movement

To climb
To rise To even out
To go up To remain stable
To improve To stabilize
To pick up
To recover Speed of Change
To increase Rapid - Rapidly
To reach a peak Slow - Slowly
Sudden - Suddenly
 Downward Movement Sharp - Sharply
To fall Steady - Steadily
To decline Gradual - Gradually
To bottom out Fast - Quickly
To decrease
To drop Size of Change
To plummet Noticeable - Noticeably
To deteriorate Substantial - Substantially
To hit a low Considerable - Considerably
To slip back Slight - Slightly
To do down Significant - Significantly
Dramatic - Dramatically
Example:
• Sales rose slightly in the final quarter.
• Profits fell a little last year.
• Demand increased gently
• Turnover decreased steadily
• Turnover dropped suddenly
• Turnover decreased quickly.
• Demand increased rapidly.
• Profits fell dramatically.
• At the beginning of this year sales stagnated.
• At the end of last year demand peaked.
• In the first quarter of 2008 sales plummeted.
• In the second quarter of 2007 sales flattened out.
• In the third quarter of 2007 sales leveled off.
• In the last quarter of 2007 sales remained steady.

DESCRIBING TRENDS

Introducing Visuals

• I'd like you to look at this graph...

• Let me show you this pie chart...
• Let's have a look at this model...
• Let's turn to this map...
• To illustrate my point let’s look at some diagrams...
• As you can see from these figures...
• If you look at these photographs you'll see...
• If you look at this bar chart you'll notice...
• If you look at this histogram you'll appreciate...
• If you look at this flow chart you'll understand ...
• If you look at this matrix...

Naming the parts of diagrams

The vertical axis represents total annual sales. The horizontal axis shows our market
share. The curve, The solid line, The dotted line, The broken line, The shaded area,
The unshaded section, The dotted column, The coloured segment, The red bar…
 Explaining diagrams

• Sales rose slightly in the final quarter.

• Profits fell a little last year.
• Demand increased gently
• Turnover decreased steadily
• Turnover dropped suddenly
• Turnover decreased quickly.
• Demand increased rapidly.
• Profits fell dramatically.
• At the beginning of this year sales stagnated.
• In the middle of August profits slumped.
• At the end of last year demand peaked.
• In the first quarter of 2008 sales plummeted.
• In the second quarter of 2007 sales flattened out.
• In the third quarter of 2007 sales leveled off.
• In the last quarter of 2007 sales remained steady.