Switching from nouns to verbs and back
Providing an examiner with a range of grammar that they can use to award higher band scores is important.
One way to show different structures is to switch between nouns and verbs. This is common when rewriting the diagram description in the test question to create an introduction for an essay.
Original: The table below shows yearly electricity consumption for average UK households.
Essay introduction: The diagram shows the amount of electricity that was consumed by average UK households.
Throughout an IELTS Task One essay there are numerous opportunities to switch between nouns and verbs, and to use adjectives and adverbs that correspond.
For trend diagrams this is possible when describing movements of data. The vocabulary required can be found in Vocabulary For Trend Diagrams but some examples are provided in the table below.
| NOUN FORM | CORRESPONDING ADJECTIVE | VERB FORM | CORRESPONDING ADVERB |
| a rise | gradual | rise | gradually |
| a fall | significant | fall | significantly |
| a recovery | slight | recover | slightly |
| an increase | sharp | increase | sharply |
Diagram descriptions that include adjectives and nouns will usually use one of the sentence structures below:
STRUCTURE A - There + be + a + adjective + noun
There was a significant fall in overall sales.
There has been a gradual rise from ten to twenty thousands cars sold.
From June to October there was a sharp increase in electricity production.
There is expected to be a slight recovery in visitor numbers in 2027.
STRUCTURE B - Subject + main verb + a + adjective + noun
Overall sales experienced a a significant fall.
Car sales have undergone a gradual rise from ten to twenty thousands cars sold.
From June to October, electricity production has shown a sharp increase.
Visitor numbers are expected to experience a slight recovery in 2027.
All of these example sentences can be made more varied by using the quantifiers described here. Remember, grammatical variation will improve the band score for Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
Examples:
There was a significant fall in the number of overall sales.
There has been a gradual rise in the number of cars sold, from ten to twenty thousand.
From June to October, the amount of electricity produced has increased sharply.
The number of visitors is expected to recover slightly in 2027.
EXERCISE SIX
In a notebook, rewrite the verb/adverb sentences below to include a noun, adjective and quantifier.
- Overall profits declined dramatically.
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- Guitar sales have increased marginally by just under 5000 units.
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- Since March 2018, gas used has increased significantly.
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- Global markets are expected to recover slightly in 2021.
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