This lesson looks at some essential words to describe a line graph in IELTS writing task

1. To get a good band score you must show the examiner a range of different words to
show upward and downward trends. IELTS line graphs show change over a period of
time and you must vary your language when you write your report.

Line Graph Vocabulary

Mistakes when using words will affect your band score. To get band score 6, you must
have only some errors with a range of vocabulary. To get band score 7, you must have
few errors with a good range of vocabulary.

Practice
Fill in the gaps with the vocabulary from the table above. Make sure you adapt the
words to make the sentences grammatically correct. The completed paragraph below is
an example of a body paragraph for a line graph.

Fill in the gaps with the correct vocabulary. You should use no more than two words for
each gap.
The number of cases began at 100 in 1983 and then the figure 1.
steadily to reach 200 in 1987. In the following year, there was 2. back
to 100 before rising to 3. .. 400 in 1989. The number4.
slightly to 350 in 1991 and then 5. .. dramatically to a low of 0 in 1992.
Answers
1. rose / increased / climbed / grew / went up
2. a fall / a decline / a slump / a decrease
3. peak at
4. dropped / fell / declined / decreased
5. dropped / fell / declined / decreased (it is also possible to use plummeted