Words and phrases suitable for:

Line graphs

Bar charts

Tables

Pie charts

Verbs
Drop

Show a downward trend

Plummet

Plunge

Halve

Dip

Increase

Surge

Grow

Show an upward trend

Double

Triple

Rocket

Shoot up

Soar (=surge)

Recover
 
 
 Reach a peak, Peak at …%
Fluctuate

Verb + adverb
Now we add adverbs to the verbs, ie "how?"

 Significantly
 Remarkably
 Dramatically
 Sharply
 Gradually
 Steadily
 Marginally (=slightly)
 Negligibly (=very slightly)

Decrease Considerably

Decline Slightly

Fall Gradually

Drop Steadily

Rise Sharply

Increase Dramatically

Adjective + noun
a dramatic increase
a sharp fall - There was a sharp rise in the percentage of …
a gradual decline
 How to describe trends?

SUBJECT + VERB + ADVERB (HOW?)

Prices rose considerably

The percentage decreased sharply

There is + a + adjective + noun + in the ...

There was a negligible rise in the sales …

There will be a considerable fall in the number of people

Useful phrases for a high score

hit the highest point

hit the lowest point

hit a trough (= a low point/antonym of a peak)

show some fluctuation

remained stable

reached a plateau

the figure levelled off in the last two years

flattened out

despite the initial rise, the figures …

regarding the percentage of …, it fell to …

despite falling to just under 40%, the figure then rose to…

as opposed to …

… respectively (Cookies and cakes were the second most popular products with
nearly 120 and 100 of these snacks sold respectively)

the percentage of …

the proportion of …
the figures for…were fairly similar at …%

the number of…

the amount of…

Prepositions
By 1978,

Over a twelve-year period

In the last year

Over the next three years,

In the following year,

Over the period in question

At the beginning/end of the period

Throughout the period in question

In the first half of the decade …

An Increase of 30%.

Decreased by 15%.

Rose sharply over a period of 10 years.

Figures
Advanced vocabulary for paraphrasing figures

2% = a very small proportion of

2-10% = a mere 3 percent OR a mere 5 percent of
16% = a small minority
20% = a fifth
24% = almost a quarter
25% = a quarter
26% = roughly one quarter
32% = nearly one-third
35% = more than a third
49% = just under a half
50% = a half
51% = just over a half
55% = more than half
70% = a large proportion of
72% = a significant majority of
73% = nearly three quarters
76% = just over three-quarters

Add these words to the figures

Approximately
Nearly
Roughly
Almost
Just over
Just under
Just around
Just about
Just below
A little more than
A little less than

For example:
Just under 60 percent of people in Canada went to fast food outlets in 2009. (we
see "58%" in the graph, we can round this fidure off by writing "just under 60%").

Comparisons
... by far the most popular item / product / language ...
... the least popular product was ...
... much more popular
more languages ...
fewer students ...
the highest percentage of/the lowest proportion of
... as popular as ...
... not as popular as ...
... not quite/nearly as expensive as ...
... did not sell as many computers as ...
... is three times higher than ...
... twice as many _____ as ...

For example:
The number of intermediate students is three times higher than the number of
students in elementary classes, at 80 and 77 students respectively.

There were twice as many students in the …as students in the ...