Task 1 – line graphs and the language of change

Verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives and prepositions for describing trends in IELTS Writing Task 1, with tense rules and a fully worked line-graph answer.

A line graph shows how something changes over time. To describe it you need a compact set of language: words for going up, going down and staying the same; words for how fast and how far; and the small prepositions that attach numbers to those words. This lesson gives you that set, and the same language serves for any bar chart or table that contains dates.

Verbs and nouns of change

You can describe a change with a verb (sales rose) or with a noun (there was a rise in sales). Using both gives your writing variety.

Irregular forms to learn: rise – rose – risen; fall – fell – fallen; grow – grew – grown. Be careful with raise: it needs an object (the government raised taxes), so do not write ✗ the number raised.

How much and how fast: adverbs and adjectives

Tram use climbed rapidly. ↔ There was a rapid climb in tram use. Bus travel fell steadily. ↔ Bus travel showed a steady fall.

Choose words that match the graph. Plummeted for a fall from 50 to 48 is inaccurate, and accuracy is what Task Achievement measures.

Prepositions: where most errors happen

Compare:

• The figure rose to 60. (60 is the new level)
• The figure rose by 60. (60 is the amount added)

Mixing these changes the meaning completely.

Other useful expressions

Multiplying and dividing

• doubled, tripled (trebled), quadrupled / increased twofold, threefold
• halved / fell by half / fell by two-thirds
• almost doubled, more than tripled, roughly five times its original level

Approximating (you do not need every exact figure)

• about, around, approximately, roughly, just over, just under, nearly, almost, slightly more than, well over

Ranking and comparing

• X overtook Y in 2015 / X had overtaken Y by 2015
• X exceeded Y / X was higher than Y throughout
• the gap between X and Y widened / narrowed
• X remained the most popular … / X was by far the highest

Time phrases for variety

• at the start/beginning of the period, initially
• over the following decade, in the subsequent five years, thereafter, from then on
• by the end of the period, in the final year
• throughout the period

Tenses

If the graph crosses from past to future, change tense at the right point. One consistent error with tenses throughout an answer will hold down your grammar score.

Selecting what to report

A line graph with three lines and seven dates contains twenty-one data points. Reporting all of them produces a list, not a summary. For each line, consider only:

1. the starting value;
2. the end value;
3. any peak, low or turning point;
4. any crossing with another line.

Then group the lines. Lines that behave similarly go in the same paragraph; a line that behaves differently gets its own.

Worked example

Task: The graph below shows the average number of journeys made per person each year by three forms of transport in one European city between 1995 and 2025.

Plan

• Overview: bus ↓; tram and bike ↑; tram becomes first; gap narrows.
• Body 1: bus and tram (opposite trends, crossing by 2015).
• Body 2: bicycle (slow, then fast; passes the bus at the end).

Model answer (185 words)

The line graph compares how often residents of a European city travelled by bus, tram and bicycle each year over a thirty-year period beginning in 1995.

Overall, bus use declined steadily, whereas journeys by both tram and bicycle increased considerably. As a result, the tram had replaced the bus as the most popular of the three by the end of the period, and the differences between them had narrowed dramatically.

In 1995, the bus was by far the dominant form of transport, at 210 journeys per person, compared with only 60 by tram and 35 by bicycle. Bus travel then fell in every five-year period, reaching 140 trips in 2025. Tram use, by contrast, climbed rapidly, almost doubling from 75 to 135 journeys between 2000 and 2010. It had overtaken the bus by 2015 and finished at 172.

Cycling followed a different pattern. Growth was slow at first, with the figure rising by only 13 journeys in the first ten years. After 2005, however, it accelerated sharply, more than tripling to 150 by 2025, at which point it exceeded bus travel for the first time.

What to notice

• Selection: of 21 figures, only 11 are mentioned.
• Comparison in almost every sentence: by far the dominant, compared with, by contrast, had overtaken, exceeded.
• Variety of structures: fell… reaching 140 (participle); with the figure rising by only 13 (with + noun + -ing); at which point (relative clause).
• Accurate prepositions: at 210, from 75 to 135, by only 13, to 150, by 2025.
• Past perfect for changes completed by a certain date: had replaced, had narrowed, had overtaken.

Sentence patterns to practise

1. Subject + verb + adverb + figures + time Tram journeys rose steadily from 60 to 172 between 1995 and 2025.
2. There was + adjective + noun + in + subject There was a steady rise in tram journeys over the period.
3. Subject + saw/experienced/showed + adjective + noun Cycling saw a sharp increase after 2005.
4. Time + saw/witnessed + noun (use sparingly) The decade after 2005 saw a sharp increase in cycling.
5. …, -ing (result or continuation) Bus travel fell throughout, reaching 140 in 2025.
6. Comparison within one sentence While bus use declined, tram use almost tripled.

Write three of these about each graph you practise with, and they will soon come naturally.

Common mistakes

Key points

• Learn verbs and nouns of change in pairs, with matching adverbs and adjectives.
• Master from/to, by, of, in, at: they carry the numbers.
• Match tense to the time frame; use the past perfect with by + date.
• Report starts, ends, peaks and crossings, not every point.
• Group similar lines together and compare constantly.

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