GRAPHS

Planned drawings showing how different values are

related to each other

HOW TO READ GRAPHS

1. give the title / name the graph2. introduce your description3. pay attention to the tense used4. look at the trends 5. adjectives + nouns verbs + adverbs

Introducing graphs

To show something in/on a graph….

The graph shows……. illustrates …….

On the graph you see ……..Look at this in the graph…….

By looking at the first graph, you will notice..

On the second graph, which represents …, we can see the following trends over the six-year period.

The third graph shows…. You will notice that…

Past Tense/Present Perfect There was a decrease in 2005.The number went up….in 1998/last year.

There has been a fall in …. over the last five years.The number has gone up….recently.

MOVEMENTS

1. Upward trend

2. Downward trend

3. The same trend

UPWARD TRENDVerbs: Sales increased / went up / grew improved /jumped / leaped surged / soared / took off / shot up peaked / reached a high pointNouns:There was an increase / a rise / growth / an improvement/a surge/a jump/a leap in…sales.

DOWNWARD TREND

Verbs:

Sales dropped / fell / decreased / declined plunged / slumped / crashed /

plummeted tumbled / bottomed out reached a trough / reached a low point

Nouns:

There was a decrease / fall / drop / decline plunge / slump / crash / in sales.

THE SAME LEVELNO CHANGE

The number has remainedstable / constant.

The number has levelled off.

The number stagnated / stabilized in 2008.

grow / rise / increase (NO: up)!!!!

fall / drop / decrease (NO: down)!!!!

Prepositions:

to rise / fall from € 5m to € 7mto increase / drop by 100%

Adjective + Noun:

There was a slight increase.moderate rise.considerable / significant fallsharp / dramatic drop.

Subject +Verb+ Adverb

Sales rose / increased slightly. significantly. considerably.

dramatically/sharply. The number has doubled / tripled.

Bar Charts

Line Charts

Pie Charts

Flow Charts

Tables

http://australianetwork.com/businessenglish/stories/ep08.htmWrite down the descriptions of the three graphs.Write down changing the phrases from noun phrases into verb

phrases.e.g.There was a steady rise in sales.Sales rose steadily.