Describing Trends in Graphs,

Table, Reaction

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Building speaking skill
• Describe general trend
• Describe explanation (when it reach up
and down)

NOUN VERB
• increase • increase
• rise • rise, rose, risen
• growth • grow, grew, grown
• decrease • decrease
• fall • fall, fell, fallen
• decline • decline
• drop • drop, dropped, dropped
• fluctuation • fluctuate

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 UP Verb

“Soar “and “rocket” are both very strong words that describe large rises. “Rocket” is more
sudden. You probably do not need to qualify these verbs with adverbs.
“Leap” shows a large and sudden rise. Again, you probably do not need to qualify it with an
adverb.
“Climb” is a relatively neutral verb that can be used with the adverbs below.

DOWN Verb

“Plummet” is the strongest word here. It means to fall very quickly and a long way.
“Drop” and “drop” are normally used for fairly small decreases
“Slip back” is used for falls that come after rises
“Drop” and “Dip” are also frequently used as nouns: eg “a slight dip” “a sudden drop”

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 Adjective and adverb degree

“sudden” and “sharp” can be used of relatively minor changes that happen quickly
“spectacular” and “dramatic” are very strong words only to used to big, big, big changes

Steady adjective

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Small Adjective

“marginal” is a particularly useful word for describing very small changes

“overall” can be used to describe changes in trend over the whole period: very useful in
introductions and conclusions
“upward” and “downward” are adjectives: the adverbs are “upwards” and “downwards”

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Production started climbing steadily but
flattened off at a level of around 70.
Since then, it has fallen steadily.

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Production grew more and more rapidly
over the first three quarters but then
reached a peak. Since then, it has
quickly dropped.

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Production grew rapidly in the first
quarter, but reached a plateau of about
70. Since then it has remained more or
less stable.

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Production has dropped slowly but
steadily over the year.

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Production started the year in a stable
position, but then plunged in the third
quarter. It has now flattened out at a
level of 20.

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Production fell considerably over the
first three quarters, reaching a low of
20. Since then it has staged a partial
recovery.

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Production has fluctuated all year.

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Production started off steady, but fell
sharply in the last quarter.

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Production showed a marginal rise in the
first three quarters, but then suffered a
sharp drop.

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After a considerable drop in the first two
quarters, production bottomed out at 20.
Since then it has started to rise.

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Production has experienced a strong,
steady growth over the whole year.

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There has been a slight increase in
production over the year.

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There was a rapid drop in production in
the first quarter, but it bottomed out at
about 20.

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Describing Trends in Graphs

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