IELTS Writing Task 1: Trend Language, Tenses, and Data Description

Flashcards covering vocabulary, trend structures, grammatical tenses, and percentage-fraction conversions derived from the IELTS writing lecture notes.

Soar

A very strong verb describing a large rise, often used without adverbs.

Rocket

A very strong verb describing a large and sudden rise.

Leap

A verb showing a large and sudden rise; usually does not need to be qualified with an adverb.

Climb

A relatively neutral verb for a rise that can be qualified with adverbs.

Plummet

The strongest word for a fall, meaning to fall very quickly and a long way.

Drop / Dip

Words normally used for fairly small decreases; frequently used as both verbs and nouns.

Slip back

A verb phrase used to describe falls that occur specifically after a previous rise.

Sudden / Sharp

Adjectives used for relatively minor changes that happen quickly.

Spectacular / Dramatic

Very strong adjectives used only for big changes.

Marginal

An adjective used for describing very small changes.

Overall

An adjective used to describe changes in trend over the whole period, useful in introductions and conclusions.

Upward / Downward

Adjectives used to describe patterns; the adverb forms are "upwards" and "downwards".

Trend Structure 1

There + be + adj. + noun + in + noun phrase (e.g., "There was a gradual rise in the price of oil").

Trend Structure 2

Noun phrase + verb + adverb (e.g., "The price of property fell sharply").

Present Perfect

A tense used to talk about changes in data that have happened over a period of time without a specific starting point.

Present Perfect Continuous

A tense used to show that a trend started in the past and has continued up until the present moment.

Future Perfect

A tense used to state that a change will be completed by a particular time in the future, often used with "by" or "in".

Past Simple

A tense used to talk about an action or trend that started and finished at a specific time in the past.

$$73\%$$

Nearly three quarters.

$$51\%$$

Just over a half.

$$49\%$$

Just under a half or around a half.

$$32\%$$

Nearly a third.

$$3\%$$

A tiny fraction or an insignificant minority.

$$50\%$$

Exactly a half.

$$26\%$$

Roughly one quarter.

$$24\%$$

Almost a quarter.

$$77\%$$

Approximately three quarters.

$$70\%$$

A large proportion.

$$71\%$$

A significant majority.

$$15\%$$

A small minority.

To summarise / In sum

Appropriate phrases for the overview paragraph in IELTS Task 1; "to conclude" should be avoided.