Describing Graphs 2

Describing Graphs 2

by Arirofl time

​Bar charts

Vocabulary

Bar chart vocabulary generally consists of up verbs, down verbs, adjectives and adverbs of degree and steady adjectives.

Up Verbs	Down Verbs	Adjectives	Adverbs	Steady Adjectives
Grow	Decline	Drastic	Drastically	Steady
Leap	Fall	Dramatic	Dramatically	Constant
Rise	Back down	Tremendous	Tremendously	Uniform
Peak	Descend	Rapid	Rapidly	Moderate

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Prepare

• The first thing to be done is to understand the data and segregate it according to the task.

• Analyze the task and data type(static data or moving date) including time scales

• What do the axes define and the units?

• Group the data

• Identify the key features

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Structure

Some text here about the topic of discussion

• One sentence for the introduction.

• Two sentences using superlatives.

• A sentence with a comparison. Make comparisons where relevant.

• A sentence grouping two data points to show similarity (for example, you might include a brief description showing a gradual decrease in two different areas).

Structure

Some text here about the topic of discussion

• A sentence noting an exception to an overall trend.

• A sentence describing some data in an advanced manner, using complex sentence structure.

• A sentence describing relevant data using simple structure.

• Two sentences for summary and conclusion.

​Sample answer

​The chart illustrates the amount of money spent on five consumer goods (cars, computers, books, perfume and cameras) in France and the UK in 2010. Units are measured in pounds sterling.

 

Overall, the UK spent more money on consumer goods than France in the period given. Both the British and the French spent most of their money on cars while the least amount of money was spent on perfume in the UK compared to cameras in France.

​Sample answer

​Regarding cars, people in the UK spent about 450,000 on this as opposed to their French at 400,000. Similarly, the British expenditure was higher on books than the French (around 400,000 and 300, 000 respectively). In the UK, expenses on cameras (just over 350,000) were over double that of France, which was only 150, 000.

 

 On the other hand, the amount of money paid out on the remaining goods was higher in France. Above 350,000 was spent by the French on computers which was slightly more than the British who spent exactly 350,000. Neither of the countries spent much on perfume which accounted for 200,000 of expenditure in France but only 150,000 in the UK.

​Comparatives and superlatives:

What’s the tallest?

​

• The highest amount of money was spent on cars

•  The UK has the highest prices

• What’s the shortest?

• The least amount of money was spent on cars

• France has the lowest prices

​How are they the same (different)?

• ​The amount of money spent was higher on X than X            

• Above 350,000 was spent by the French on computers which was slightly more than the British.

• Cameras had a smaller increase than perfume in France

• The UK has a higher population than Portugal

​How are they the same (different)?

• In contrast,

  On the contrary

  X differs from Y

  On the other hand,

​ How are they similar?

• ​Both

• The UK and France expenses are alike/are similar

• The Uk spent most of its money on cars, similarly, France has its highest expenditure on cars.

​Exercise 1

​The chart shows components of Gross Domestic Product in the UK from 1992 to 2000.

Work in pairs. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Time your work it shouldn’t last more than a minute.

​Exercise 1

​Pie charts

​Characteristics

• ​Use percentages and fractions

• How much per cent?

• How much of the pie?

​25%

​½ Half of the X

1/3 A third of the X

1/6 A sixth

¼ a quarter

Vocabulary

Written form	Percentage	Fraction
a half	50%	1/2
a third	33%	1/3
two thirds	66%	2/3
three quarters	75%	3/4
a quarter	25%	1/4

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Prepare

• Look for the biggest and smallest sections of your pie charts - What do they represent? What is the percentage?

• Make a quick analysis – note down the times, dates and measurements.

• See the big picture, avoid getting lost in the details. After all this is a summarizing task

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Organise your findings into two groups

When organising the information into two separate groups focus on these topics for your pie charts:

• ​Major trends

• Major groups

• Exceptions

• Group information

• Other similar ideas

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

​Starting sentences:

• ​We can see from the chart…

• According to the chart…

• The chart shows that

• It is clear that ____represents the largest portion of _____, whereas _____ is undoubtedly the smallest.​

​Overviews or detailed information:

• ​Something makes up half of/a third of

• Half of the assets are delivery vans

• Delivery vans account for/comprise of/ represents 25%

• 25% of the company’s assets are delivery vans

• Exactly, precisely 50%

• Sales of _____ stood at % in 1925, which is the majority of___.

​Overviews or detailed information:

• Use the language of comparison – to say which country had the largest and smallest share etc. Some keywords here are:

  • most/least

  • largest/smallest

  • more/less

  • greater/smaller

• In 1955 approximately three quarters were ____, whereas in 1960 this had fallen to just under a fifth.​

​The information is not exact

• ​Around, approximately, nearly, close to

• Slightly above, just over 25%

• Slightly below, just under 30%

​Example

​This pie chart shows the shares of total world food consumption held by each of seven different food types in 2014.

 

In general, the majority of the food consumed worldwide was meat in 2014, whereas rice was the least popular food.

​Example

​Meat was eaten the most, at 31.4 percent. Fish had the second-highest levels, at 27.9 percent. Cereal and Fruits consumption represented around 22 percent of the total, followed closely by vegetables at 10.5 percent, and then bread at 5.5 percent. The smallest food group in terms of world consumption was rice, at 2.4 percent.

​Example

The graphs shows that overall global consumption was clearly focused on animal-based foods (meat and fish) as they made up the majority of consumption when added together. On the other hand, cereals (bread and rice) accounted for just under 10% of the food choice in 2014.

​Exercise 2