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MIXED GRAPHS
I, Introduction
1, Definition of mixed graphs
Mixed graphs are the combination of two or more charts/ graphs/ table.
2, Type of mixed graphs
Name Visual aids and features
1. Mixed 2
graphs

The given line graph illustrates information on the number of overseas visitors
traveling to Australia in millions of people while the second table gives
statistics showing the countries whose residents went to Australia between 1975
and 2005.

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2. Mixed 3
or more
graphs

The diagrams show data for a flu epidemic which hit a large country town in
1996. Figure 1 gives the number of persons who died; Figure 2 shows the
percentage breakdown of females who received a new flu vaccine; and Figure 3
gives the number of cases of flu before and during the epidemic.

II, Features of mixed charts:

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1, Objectives / Aims of mixed charts:
Mixed charts: combination of two or more charts / graphs/ table
Mixed charts are used to give different kinds of information. (E.g.: pie chart and line chart show
the percentage and also the trend.)
Mixed charts are mainly used in research and data analysis because they show the complicated
relationship of the problems which are studied.
Example:

The pie chart shows the worldwide distribution of sales of Coca-Cola in the year 2000 and the
graph shows the change in share prices between 1996 and 2001.
In the year 2000, Coca-Cola sold a total of 17.1 billion cases of their fizzy drink product
worldwide. The largest consumer was North America, where 30.4 per cent of the total volume
was purchased. The second largest consumer was Latin America. Europe and Asia purchased
20.5 and 16.4 per cent of the total volume respectively, while Africa and the Middle East
remained fairly small consumers at 7 per cent of the total volume of sales.
Since 1996, share prices for Coca-Cola have fluctuated. In that year, shares were valued at
approximately $35. Between 1996 and 1997, however, prices rose significantly to $70 per share.
They dipped a little in mid-1997 and then peaked at $80 per share in mid-98. From then until
2000 their value fell consistently but there was a slight rise in mid-2000.
2, Organization / Structure of mixed charts:
Charts/ graphs/table title
The titles (top of the charts) give an overview of the information displayed in the charts.
Structure of each kind: please look at the previous lessons.

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III. Guideline to mixed graph description

The process of describing an individual chart in a mixed chart is the same as describing a line
chart, a bar chart, a pie chart and so on.
1. Introductory sentence:
 You should explain how many and which kinds of charts you are going to describe.
 You can use one more sentence to sum up the overall trend the chart.
For example:
The bar chart shows CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre for variuos methods of transport in
the European Union while the pie chart shows European Union spending on transport.
2. Body paragraphs:
There are two ways to organize the body:
 You separate each chart to describe
For example:

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The given line graph illustrates information on the number of overseas visitors traveling to
Australia in millions of people. Overall, one notable trend seems to be that Australia has steadily
become more popular as a destination spot. For example, there were 20 million more visitors to
Australia in 2005 than in 1975. That's a jump from 10 million to 30 million in 20 years.
The second table gives statistics showing the countries whose residents went to Australia
between 1975 and 2005. In both years, the largest number of visitors came from Japan, followed
by South Korea and Europe. Britain, the United States and China also had many people traveling
to Australia in these years. In fact, the number of people visiting Australia grew in every one of
these countries. For example, in 2005, 12 million people went there from Japan compared with

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only 3.2 million in 1975.
 You describe charts together.
That means you will discuss the data presented in the task, identify significant trends of each
chart at the same time.
For example:

Grams of CO2 per passenger - Km

European Union spending on transport

à Flying by air produces by far the greatest CO2 emissions, approximately three times as much
as passenger cars which are the next largest producers. Very little is spent by the EU on air
travel while roads make up more than half of the EU transport budget.
3. Concluding sentence:

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 You might draw a conclusion to show the relation after analyzing all the charts in the
mixed graph.
For example:
In conclusion, people in the UAE are living longer and healthier lives because of the
government's spending on education and medical facilities.
 You also put some significant comments or some potential solutions.

 If you do not have enough time, you can omit this part, or you can write, “This ends my
report”.
IV. Useful tips and useful language:
1. Useful tips:
 Do not copy any part of the question in your answer. This is not your own work and
therefore will be disregarded by the examiner and deducted from the word count. You
can use individual words but be careful of using long "chunks" of the question text.
 Don't repeat yourself or the same ideas. This gives a bad impression and the examiner
realizes that it isn't adding to the content of your report.
 If you are weak at English grammar, try to use short sentences. This allows you to control
the grammar and the meaning of your writing much more easily and contributes to a
better cohesion and coherence mark. It's much easier to make things clear in a foreign
language if you keep your sentences short!
 Think about the tenses of your verbs. If you're writing about something that happened in
the past, your verbs will need to be in the past tenses. If you're describing the future, you
will need to use the future tenses. If it's a habitual action, you'll need the present simple
tense and so on. If you have time, a quick check of your verbs at the end of the exam can
help you find errors. For describing graphs, you will probably need past tenses whereas,
for describing a process, you will probably need the present simple. Think about the
verbs while practicing and then it will become easier when you do the exam.
 Don't be irrelevant. Although you can use your imagination to expand on your answer, if
any part of your report is totally unrelated to the question and put in to just put up the
word count, then the examiner will not take it into account and deduct it from the word
count.
2. Useful language:
a. Some words and phrases to describe trend:
Nouns Adjective and Adverbs Verbs
a rise sharp(ly) / dramatic (ally) remain the same

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an increase considerable(ly) reach a plateau
a fall steady(ily) remain stable
a drop slight(ly) / gentle(ly) remain/stay constant
a decline gradual(ly) reach a peak
a peak/dip relative(ly) hit/fall to the lowest point
b. Comparing data:
To contrast To compare
While/Whilst More…than Likewise To reflect
Whereas Different from Similarly To mirror
However Differ(ence) As…as Just as
On the other hand Although Like Alike
Even so In contrast to To have in common
Nevertheless Conversely In the same way
Less…than Unlike
c. Some useful prepositions:
in [month / year / morning, afternoon etc]
at [9 o’clock, 10.30 am etc]
from..[a point in time]..to… [another point]
between…[a point in time]..and… [another point]
during [a period of time]
before [a point in time or a period of time]
after [a point in time or a period of time]
by [a point of time arrived at]
until [a point of time reached]
since [from a point in the past until now]

 Remember also that not all words for describing rise and fall will take a preposition, and
the preposition will depend on whether you are using the word as a verb or a noun. See
the table below for more details:
Verbs that take a Verbs that don’t take Nouns that take a
preposition a preposition preposition
rise to/by reach a rise of
increase to/by an increase of
fall to/by a fall of
drop to/by a decrease of
shoot up to/by

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plunge to/by
stay at
remain at
fluctuate between/around
d. Some useful phrases to interpret the graph:
The graph illustrates / shows the rise in . . .
The graph illustrates / shows that . . .
It is estimated that . . .
Compare the data in the bar graph / chart.
The trend was flat.
The present trend is maintained.

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