-Unit 06 –

Business Communication Collate and

Course Code :
BCM 10225
Synthesize
Lecturer : Ms. Malsha Perera information

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Describing Graphs and Charts
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Functions of graphs and charts in business
writing
• Describing trends
• Interpret graphs and charts
• Make comparison with adjectives
• What is happening / what happened
• The main change over time
• The most noticeable thing about the graph
• The pattern over time
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Different types of graphs and charts
4.5
4.3
3.5

Single line graph 2.5

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4

5
4.3 4.4 4.5

3.5
3 2.8
Multiple line graph 2.4
2
2.5
2 1.8

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4

4
Cont:
Chart Title

Paired bar chart

4.3 4.4 4.5
3.5
2.5 2.8
2.4
1.8

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4

Pie chart 28%

1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
72%

5
Cont:
Category 4 4.5 2.8 5

Category 3 3.5 1.8 3

Stacked bar chart
Category 2 2.5 4.4 2

Category 1 4.3 2.4 2

Bubble diagram

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Cont:
Category 4 4.5

Single bar chart Category 3 3.5

Category 2 2.5

Category 1 4.3

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

Flow chart

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Vocabulary- Describing Trends
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 consequences of the change

Verb + Speed or size + Result/ Reason/ Consequence

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Upward Movement

To climb To increase
To rise To surge
To go up To boom
To improve To reach a peak

To pick up
To recover
To bounce back
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Downward Movement

To fall To drop
To decline To plummet
To bottom out To hit a low
To decrease To dip

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Horizontal Movement

To even out
To remain stable
To stabilize

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Describing speed of change and size
Speed of Change Size of Change

Rapid-rapidly Noticeable-noticeably

Slow-slowly Substantial-substantially

Sudden-suddenly Considerable-considerably

Sharp-sharply Slight-slightly

Steady-steadily Significant-significantly

Gradual-gradually Dramatic-dramatically
Fast-quickly Negligible-negligibly

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Sentence patterns
• Company’s sales increased significantly due to the launch of
new electric car.
(verb + adverb construction)

• There was a significant increase in the company’s sales due

to the launch of the new electric car
(adjective + noun (word) construction)

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Comparison and Adjectives

Adjectives have comparative and superlative forms:

• Comparatives compare one item with another

Ex: We had better sales last month than this month
• Superlatives compare one item with all others in a group of more
than two
Ex: Apple iPhone is the most modern phone in the market.

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Cont:

Adjectives express equality and inequality

Ex: The production in December was as large as the

production in January.

Ex: The production in December is not as large as the in

January.

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Thank You !!!!

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