BRIEF GUIDELINE ON TASK 1 WRITING

COMMON VERBS
1. Go up (verbs) 4. No change
Followed by prepositions: Followed by “at” (number/%)
• from…(number/%) to...number/%)  To level off
• by…(number/%)  To flatten out
 to rise  To stagnate
 to increase  To stabilize
 to go up  To stay/ To remain/ To keep
 to grow constant/ stable/ steady
 to climb /unchanged/the same level
 To accelerate 5. Change of direction:
 To escalate  To peak at
2. Go up a lot (verbs)  To reach a peak of
 to surge  To bottom out at
 to take off  To hit a low point/a trough/ the
 to shoot up lowest/ the largest of
 to soar  To fluctuate/ vary around
 to rocket  To show some fluctuation (variation)
 to jump  To stand at ( focus on a particular
 to leap point)
 to boom  To plateau/ to reach a plateau at
 to bounce  Account for/make up
3. Go down  Amount to
 to decrease  Record
 to decline  Consist of
 to go down  Represent
 to lower  Constitute
 to lessen  Halve
 to shrink  multiply
 to drop
 to slow down
 to fall
 To plummet
 To slump
 To crash
 To sink
 To tumble
 To plunge
 GAP-GILLING
Look at the graph and fill in each gap with appropriate verbs
The graph shows the quantity of margarine, low fat spreads and butter consumed between
1981 and 2007. The quantities are measured in grams. Over the period 1981 to 2007 as a
whole, there was 1. a significant decrease in the consumption of butter and margarine and
a 2. a marked increase in the consumption of low fat-fat spreads.

Butter was the most popular fat at the beginning of the period, and consumption 3. reached
a peak of about 160 grams in 1986. After this, there was 4. a sharp decline.

The consumption of margarine began lower than that for butter at 90 grams. Following this,
in 1991, it 5. exceeded that of butter for the first time, but after 1996 there was 6. a steady
downward trend in the amount consumed, which seemed set to continue.

Low–fat spreads were introduced in 1996, and they saw 7. a significant rise in their
consumption from that time, so that by about 2001 they were 8. more popular than either
butter or margarine.

ORDERING

1. Overall, the UK spent more money on consumer goods than France in the period given. Both the
British and the French spent most of their money on cars whereas the least amount of money was
spent on perfume in the UK compared to cameras in France.
2. On the other hand, the amount spent on the remaining goods was higher in France. Above
350,000 was spent by the French on computers which was slightly more than the British who spent
exactly 350,000. Neither of the countries spent much on perfume which accounted for 200,000 of
expenditure in France but under 150,000 in the UK.
3. The chart illustrates the amount of money spent on five consumer goods (cars, computers, books,
perfume and cameras) in France and the UK in 2010.
4. In terms of cars, people in the UK spent about 450,000 on this as opposed to the French who
spent 400,000. Similarly, the British spent more money on books than the French (around 400,000
and 300,000 respectively). In the UK, expenditure on cameras (just over 350,000) was over double
that of France, which was only 150,000.

EX: