Describing Graphs

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Describing Graphs
“Everything can be said, can be said
clearly”
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian philosopher
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 Describing Graphs
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 Describing Graphs
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 Describing Graphs
Downward Movement Upward Movement
Verbs Nouns Verbs Nouns
 Collapse ___________________  Climb ___________________
 Crash __________________  Edge up __________________
 Decline ___________________  Gain ___________________
 Decrease __________________  Go through __________________
 Drop ___________________ the roof ___________________
 Fall __________________  Increase __________________
 Go down ___________________  Jump ___________________
 Lose ground __________________  Rise __________________
 Plummet ___________________  Recover ___________________
__________________ __________________
 Plunge (spec.)
___________________  Rocket ___________________
 Slide
__________________ __________________
 Take a fall  Soar
___________________ ___________________
 Weaken  Strengthen
__________________ __________________
 Surge

Stability Up and Down

 Bounce back  Fluctuate
 Flatten out  Zig-zag
 Hold steady  Flutter
 Level off  Undulate
 Rally
 Recover
 Stabilize
 Stay the same
 Remain
constant
 Note: Some verbs are transitive and need an object. For example:
To raise prices, taxes, etc .
To boost the economy, sales, etc .

For specifying the degree of change we can use different adjectives or adverbs.
 Noun + verb + adverb
o The unemployed rate rose rapidly.
o
o
o

 There is/are + adjective + noun

o There was a rapid rise in unemployment.
o
o
o
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Small changes Big changes Low points Vocabulary
(adjectives/adverbs) (adjectives/adverbs)
 Slow / Slowly  Disastrous  Bottomed  ½ - a half
 Steady / Steadily  Massive out  1/3 – a third
 Slight / Slightly  Steep / Steeply  Reached a  ¼ - a quarter
 Gradual /  Rapid / Rapidly low  x 2 – doubled
Gradually  Heavy / Heavily  Axis  x 3 – tripled
 Gentle / Gently  Sharp / Sharply  just over / just under
 around / nearly
 more than / less than

Practice
1- Label the following visuals with these words: BAR CHART – CURVE – DIAGRAM – DOTTED LINE – FLOW CHART –
GRAPH – HORIZONTAL AXIS – PIE CHART – TABLE – VERTICAL AXIS

2-
3- Use words from the box to describe each graph: STAY THE SAME - RISE - DROP - DECLINE - PEAK
DRAMATICALLY - STEADILY - GRADUALLY .

Example: sales rose gradually .

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4- Write three short paragraphs to accompany these graphs which describe three of Japan’s economic indicators.
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5- Turn the noun form into the verb form (or opposite) to describe the increase and decrease.
Example: There was a dramatic increase in the number of sales.
The number of sales increased dramatically .
a. The graph shows a sharp fall in the sales of Stay Fresh washing powder.

b. We can see a significant rise in tickets sales.

c. There was a gradual decrease in the number of dog owners.

d. There were twice as many complaints.

e. There was a steady drop in petrol consumption.

f. There was a dramatic increase in the number of private cars.

g. The number of sales reached a level. (level out)

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h. The oil price rose sharply.

i. There was a noticeable increase in temperature from May onwards.

j. The number of people attending the theatre has fallen dramatically.

k. There had been a steady rise in DVD sales for the first six months of the year.

l. There has been a rapid growth in the use of alternative energy sources
.
m. The popularity of self catering holidays decreased significantly during the 1990s

6- Prepositions – You will also need to be careful when using prepositions with numbers. Simply changing the
preposition can change the whole meaning of a sentence. For instance, what’s the difference between these two
sentences?
A- Newspaper circulation rose by 20,000 newspapers per month.
B- Newspaper circulation rose to 20,000 newspapers per month.
Sentence A describes the size of the increase. Perhaps newspaper circulation was already 40,000 per month, and
there has been a 20,000 per month increase. The final figure will be 60,000 per month.
Sentence B shows the point reached. Perhaps newspaper circulation had been 15,000 per month and it then
rose by another 5,000 to reach 20,000 per month.
Remember also that not all words for describing rise and fall will take a preposition, and the preposition will depend on
whether you’re using the word as a verb or a noun. See the table below for more details:

Verbs that take a preposition Verbs that don’t take a preposition Nouns that take a preposition
rise to/by Reach a rise of . . .
increase to/by an increase of . . .
fall to/by a fall of . . .
drop to/by a decrease of . . .
shoot up to/by a peak of . . .
plunge to/by
stay at
remain at
fluctuate between/around

7- Look at the chart and complete the report below with a suitable preposition where needed.

The chart shows fluctuations in the price of crude oil over a thirty five year period, and clearly illustrates how oil prices
are affected by world events.
In general there has been an upward trend in the price of crude oil (a)____________________ 1970, when it was only
$1.30 per barrel. The oil embargo of the early 1970s, however, caused the price to rise sharply (b)__________________
nearly $11 per barrel. The crisis ended soon afterwards but the price remained (c)__________________________
around $11 to $13 per barrel until 1979. The Iranian revolution of that year had a huge impact on oil prices, which shot
up (d)__________________________ $17 to reach (e)__________________________ about $30 per barrel in the same
year.

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The following Iran-Iraq war caused a further increase, and the price reached (f)__________________________ a peak
(g)__________________________ nearly $36 in 1980. From that point until 1985, the price fell steadily. However, from
1985 to 1986 the price suddenly plunged (h)__________________________ $13. For the next few years the price
fluctuate (i)__________________________ $14, but with the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 there was a sudden rise
(j)__________________________ $5. The price quickly fell again and remained stable for most of the 1990s.
Things changed once again at the end of the decade, and from 1999 to 2000 the price increased
(k)__________________________ almost $10 per barrel. Despite a slight drop in 2000, the rise continued and by the
end of the period, the price of crude oil had shot up (l)__________________________ a peak of $50 per barrel.

8- Complete the paragraph with these prepositions: OF – TO – BY – AT – UNDER - FROM

At the end of April, sales stood $150

million, have risen a previous low point
just $100 million. Over the next couple of months
they rose steadily to reach a peak $190 million.
They then fell sharply $35 million towards the end
of July, but crept up again in August $160 million.

9- Put the prepositions into the sentences. IN – ON – ACROSS – AT – UP – ON – AT – OF

a. I’ll leave this slide up as I talk.
b. _______________ this slide you can see the sales figures for the second quarter.
c. The vertical axis represents sales _______________ Euros.
d. Let’s look _______________ these figures more closely.
e. 33 per cent _______________ people preferred our lead brand.
f. The apartments are _______________ the bottom of the plan.
g. I’ll just write the calculation up _______________ the flipchart.
h. The models are listed _______________ the top.

10- Making approximations - When we do not have convenient numbers (by exact numbers) to describe the chart,
what we need to do is making approximations. For example, if real sales figures for oranges rose from 4000 kilos to
7850 kilos, you can say that orange sales almost doubled. Here are some useful words and phrases for making
approximations Match phrases with the same meaning:
a- just over 1- around
b- approximately 2- nearly
c- just under 3- slightly more than

11- Now write sentences about the chart below, which shows changes in the quantities of imports of certain electronic
goods. Again, use the words in the boxes.

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a- DVD players
b- CD players
c- Televisions
d- Radios
e- Video records

12- Fill the gaps in the texts below with a word from the box.

OUT TO BE INCREASE IN PEAK RISE SHOW TO

The graph shows out book sales last year. From January (a) . March sales
(b) gradually from 20 000 to 35 000. After March, sales continued (c)
steadily to 50 000 (d) June. From June to August, sales leveled (e) .
The lowest point in the year (f) October. Our best month was December when sales (g)
at 70 000.

PROFIT MAKE BREAK PREDICTION EXPECT

Let’s make a look at the financial figures. Unfortunately, figures were below (h) last
year. In fact, we (i) a loss of $20 000. However, this year, predictions are that we will (j) )
even. If things go as we (k) we will be making a (l)
in two years time.

FOLLOWING IN LESS PREDICT AS NEXT

Having looked at the data, I (m) there will be a steady increase in sales over the (n)
six months. The drop (o) sales over the last three months is unusual and will not
continue. Sales are more or (p) stable now and as far (q) I can
see, they will start to rise gradually over the (r) moths.

Designed by Tania Santos

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
 COTTON, David, FALVEY, David, KENT Simon. Market Leader Intermediate New Edition, Person Education
Limited, 2006
 COTTON, David, FALVEY, David, KENT Simon. Market Leader Upper-Intermediate New Edition, Person
Education Limited, 2006
 LAWRENCE, Anne Freig – Business Presentations – English for Work. Longman Press, 2006.
 MASCULL, Bill – Business Vocabulary in Use -. Cambridge University Press, 2004.
 STRUT, Peter – Market Leader – Business Grammar and Usage. Person Education Limited, 2006.