Language of Graphs and Charts1

Look at the graph in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Sales of computers 1995

100

80

60
Units

40

20

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr

Here are some notes to describe the graph.

 1995 - past tense

 Jan - Feb increased slightly
 Feb - Mar increased dramatically
 Mar -Apr decreased moderately
 We can write these notes in complete sentences.

Time period Subject of Verb to describe Adverb to describe

the sentence change how much change
From January to sales increased slightly
February
From February to sales rose dramatically
March
From March to sales fell moderately
April

1
Study the following table

Verbs to describe
rise rapidly
increase dramatically
grow sharply

moderately
steadily
gradually

Verbs to describe
fall
decrease slightly
decline slowly

Language Study
Now we will look at some important language used to describe graphs. Look at the graph below.

A. We can write complete sentences to describe a graph according to structures given in the table below:

Time period Subject of the Verb to Adverb to Quantity of change

sentence describe describe
change how much
change

From January to the sales of increased slightly from around 10 to 26

February computers units.

From February to the sales of from around 26 to 90

March computers rose dramatically units.

From March to April the sales of from around 90 to 65

computers units.
fell moderately
B. We could also express the same thing this way:

Time period There to introduce the Adjective to describe the Noun to Complement
subject amount of change describe
change

From there was a slight increase in sales.

January to
February

From dramatic rise

February to
March

moderate fall
From March
to April

Describing Trends

Look at the following graph:

Possible sentences describing trends are:

From January there was an upward trend in the number of tourists.

The number of tourists reached a peak in July.

From July to September the number of tourists fluctuated.

From September to December there was a downward trend in the number of tourists.

Look at this pie chart

 Figure 2 Car colours

3.12%
12.72%

Blue
Red
White

28.05% Other

56.11%

When describing charts, the language of comparison is used.

 Describing just one part of the chart

The most popular car colour is white.

second most common colour is red.

 Comparing two parts of the pie chart

Red is substantially more common blue.

considerably than
a lot less popular
far
much
somewhat
significantly
slightly
fractionally

 Or

White is about twice as common as red.

three times popular
Vocabulary

NOUNS VERBS PHRASES ADVERB ADJECTIVE

a rise to rise to show an upward trend sharply sharp

an increase to increase to show a downward suddenly sudden
a surge to surge trend rapidly rapid
a growth to grow to hit the highest point abruptly abrupt
a peak to peak to hit the lowest point dramatically dramatic
a fluctuation to skyrocket to reach a peak significantly steep
a variation to fluctuate to show some fluctuation steadily significant
a period of to vary to fluctuate wildly considerably steady
stability to fall to remain stable markedly considerable
a plateau to decrease to remain static slightly marked
a fall to decline to remain unchanged gently slight
a decrease to dip to stay constant gradually gentle
a decline to dive to reach a plateau wildly gradual
a dip to plunge to level off
to flatten out
the highest
the lowest
the second highest
the third highest
compared to
compared with
relative to
Exercise 1

Look at the graph below on car production and fill in the blanks with a word or a phrase to complete the
description:

There was a(n) (1)________________ in car production for the first three months. For the next six months
the number of cars produced (2) ______________. Then for five months production (3)
________________. There was a slight (4) ______________ over the next seven months before it (5)
______________ for the final three months.

Incorporating more data

Now that you know how to describe change you still need to incorporate more data so that the reader can
easily follow the description. Study this description of the graph above. Note how more data have been
included in the description.

For the first three months car production increased from about five cars per month to just under 60 per
month. This was an increase of about 55 cars produced for the period. Over the next six months the
number of cars produced fluctuated at around 50 cars per month. For a period of five months production
remained at approximately just over 50 cars per month. There was a slight upward trend for the next seven
months to a peak of nearly 80 cars per month before production decreased rapidly by about 70 cars per
month to around 10 cars per month.
Describing Charts
It is often claimed that women have achieved greater freedom and have access to the same
opportunities as men. The pie charts below show some employment patterns in Great Britain.

Now write a report for a university lecturer describing the information in the charts below.

The two pie charts show the proportion of males and females in employment in six broad
categories, divided into manual and non-manual occupations. In general, a greater percentage of
women work in non-manual occupations than work in manual occupations, and the reverse is true
for men.

In the non-manual occupations, while a greater percentage of working women than men are found
in clerical-type positions, there is smaller percentage of women than men employed managerial
and professional positions. The percentage of women employed in other non-manual occupations
is slightly larger than the percentage of men in these occupations.

In manual employment, the biggest difference between the two sexes is in the employment of craft
workers, where males make up 21% of the workforce and females just 4.5%. Furthermore, the
percentage of women working as general laborers is very small, only 6.5%. There is not a great
deal of difference between the percentage of men doing other forms of manual work (25%) and
women in other manual work (32%).

In conclusion, the two charts clearly show that women do not have the same access as men to
certain types of employment. (179 words)
Describing Tables
Describing tables is similar to describing charts. The same structures of comparison and contrast
are used. The most challenging aspect is dealing with considerable amounts of data.

When describing tables:

 Do not describe all the data
 Look for significant data; e.g. the highest, the lowest, etc.
 Try and group the data. This may require you to use some general knowledge of the world,
such as recognizing developed and developing countries.

The following table gives statistics showing the aspects of quality of life in five countries.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information in the table below.

You should write at least 150 words.

Country GNP per head Daily calorie Life Infant mortality

(1982: US dollars) supply per expectancy rates (per 1000
head at birth live births)
(years)
Bangladesh 140 1877 40 132
Bolivia 570 2086 50 124
Egypt 690 2950 56 97
Indonesia 580 2296 49 87
USA 13160 3652 74 12

The table uses broad economic indicators to show the standard of living in five selected countries
in 1982.

As can be seen, the USA- an industrialized country- had the highest GNP and daily calorie intake,
the longest life expectancy and the lowest infant mortality rate. The other developing countries had
a considerably lower quality of life.

Egypt, Indonesia and Bolivia were similar in their range of indicators with Egypt having the highest
quality of life amongst the three. However, Egypt’s infant mortality rate was slightly higher than
Indonesia’s at 97 deaths per 1000 compared to 87 in Indonesia.

Bangladesh had by far the lowest quality of life in all the four indicators. Its GNP was one hundred
times smaller than the USA’s. Its calorie intake and life expectancy were about half those in the
USA and its infant mortality rate 10 times greater.

In conclusion, it can be seen from the economic indicators that the four developing countries have
to develop a lot more before reaching the same level of quantity of life as the USA.