IELTS Writing - Academic to stay constant

to reach a plateau
Task 1 - Vocabulary to level off
to flatten out
The following words and phrases will help the highest
you describe trends: the lowest
the second highest
a rise the third highest
an increase
a surge compared to
a growth compared with
a peak relative to

a fluctuation sharply
a variation suddenly
Nouns
rapidly
a period of stability abruptly
a plateau dramatically
significantly
a fall Adverbs steadily
a decrease considerably
a decline markedly
a dip slightly
gently
to rise gradually
to increase wildly
to surge
to grow sharp
to peak sudden
to skyrocket rapid
abrupt
to fluctuate dramatic
Verbs
to vary steep
Adjectives significant
to fall steady
to decrease considerable
to decline marked
to dip slight
to dive gentle
to plunge gradual

Phrases to show an upward trend

to show a downward trend
to hit the highest point
to hit the lowest point
to reach a peak
to show some fluctuation
to fluctuate wildly
to remain stable
to remain static
to remain unchanged
 from China.
Right: Twenty-five students were
SAMPLE SENTENCES from China.
 There was a substantial increase in GRAMMAR
the value of stocks on March 15th. Take note of the following prepositions
 House prices rose dramatically in which you will need to describe dates,
July. numbers and comparisons:
 The number of tourists visiting New Dates
York fell sharply in October. In December,
 The percentage of students walking In 2005,
to school continued to rise gradually From 2001-2010,
over the ten year period from 2000- By 1998,
2010. Between 1965-1969
 There was a sharp increase in Numbers
employee turnover after the strike. Increase of 25%
 Interest in environmental issues Decreased by 10%
has risen steadily over the last 10 Fell from 200 in July to 150 in August
years. Comparison
MORE USEFUL WORDS AND Compared to
Compared with
PHRASES Relative to
1. Percent – the word percent comes
after a number

Examples:
More than 25% of the students are
from Brazil.
More than 25 percent of the students
come from Brazil.
2. Percentage - The word
percentage comes after words like
the, a, this and that. Often, it is
preceded by an adjective.
Examples:
A small percentage of residents have
lived in the building for more than 20
years.
The percentage of students who live
on campus has fallen sharply since
the fire.
3. For numbers up to nine, write the
numbers in words. For numbers over
10, you can write the numbers in
numbers.
Examples:
Five percent of the employees were
late this month.
More than 50 percent of the students
handed in their assignments late
after the long weekend.
4. If the sentence starts with a
number, always write it in words.
Examples: Wrong: 25 students were
 Common Expressions to use in Academic Writing Task 1
Introducing the topic
 The graph shows… / The table reveals…
 The chart displays… / The diagram illustrates…
 Some interesting facts concerning… are revealed in the diagram.
 Several key trends are revealed by the graph showing…
Introducing the first set of data
 Beginning with the…
 To begin with the…
 Let me begin by describing the…
Introducing the second set of data
 Meanwhile, the… shows that…
 As for the… , it shows that…
 Turning to the… , it can be seen that…
Introducing the first major trend
 First of all, it is clear that…
 Most noticeably of all, it can be seen that…
 The first result worth pointing out is that…
Introducing lesser trends
 Another trend that can be observed is that…
 It is also worth pointing out that…
 Also worth noting is that…
Exceptions to the main trend
 However, this was not always the case.
 However, it should be pointed out that…
 There was one noticeable exception, however.
Comparing and contrasting
 Similarly, … / By contrast, …
 A similar trend can be observed in…
 The results for… , however, reveal a markedly different trend.
Adding figures
 The figures were X and Y respectively.
 …, at X. / …, with Y. (Usage note: use ‘at’ when you mean ‘the figure was'; use ‘with’ when you mean
‘something had’)
 …, at/with X and Y respectively.
Concluding and summarising
 To sum up, … / In summary, … / In short, …
 Overall, … / On the whole, …
 The main thing that can be observed here is that…