IELTS Writing Task 1 Useful Vocabulary

Luckily, the language needed for IELTS Writing Task 1 or an academic report is quite predicable. Here you’ll find ready made expressions and templates to help you achieve high score.

When describing any of the charts in IELTS writing task 1, you might have to describe increases and decreases. There are three main ways you can describe increases and decreases.

  1. Noun phrase + verb + adverb

Example:

The price of property fell sharply

The percentage of homes dropped dramatically.

  1. There + be + noun + in + noun phrase

Example:

There was a fall in literacy levels.

There has been an increase in the cost of coffee.

  1. Using fractions

Example:

The price of oil halved in less than a year.

The price of oil has halved since July.

By July, the price of oil has halved.

Making Comparisons

IELTS writing task 1 will often require you to make comparisons between data sources, groups and times. Here are five grammatical structures you can use to make comparisons.

  1. More/few/less + noun + than

Example:

Overall, more people preferred public transport than taxis.

  1. of one syllable -er + than

Example:

A higher number of people preferred public transport than taxis.

  1. More/less + adj. of more than one syllable + than

Example:

Taxis were more popular than public transport.

  1. of one syllable -est.

Example: 

The highest % of commuters preferred taxis.

  1. The most/least + adj. of more than one syllable.

Example:

The least popular mode of transport was buses.

Summarising

IELTS writing task 1 is essentially a summarising task. Your overview paragraph (the second and crucial one) should contain two or three sentences summarising the main features of the graph. In order to help you do this, here are some short phrases.

  • To summarise, the most marked change is….
  • Overall, it is clear….
  • Overall, the majority/minority….
  • In sum, the most noticeable trend is….

Possible adjectives

  • gradual
  • moderate
  • modest
  • sharp
  • dramatic
  • slight
  • steep
  • steady
  • significant
  • considerable
  • rapid

Possible nouns:

  • variation
  • decline
  • decrease
  • dip
  • drop
  • fall
  • peak
  • fluctuation
  • growth
  • increase
  • rise
  • slump

Example:

The price of oil rose gradually.

The price of oil has risen dramatically.

Possible verbs:

  • rise
  • jump
  • grow
  • climb
  • increase
  • rocket
  • fall
  • drop
  • decline
  • decrease
  • go down
  • plummet
  • plunge

Possible adverbs:

  • gradually
  • moderately
  • modestly
  • sharply
  • dramatically
  • slightly
  • steeply
  • steadily
  • significantly
  • considerably
  • rapidly
  • slowly