It is clearly seen that unemployment fell gradually throughout the period.
This is like a supermarket putting a sign next to some peanuts saying “This product contains peanuts.” Continue reading
It is clearly seen that unemployment fell gradually throughout the period.
This is like a supermarket putting a sign next to some peanuts saying “This product contains peanuts.” Continue reading
The word ‘trend‘ is only used once, and even then it is used together with ‘downward‘! See this post for further discussion of ‘trend‘.
Although is used to contrast two trends at the same time. This is a good thing to do, if you can, in your IELTS Task 1 overview.
Indonesians notice the contrasted items are separated with a comma without ‘but’ (akan tetapi).
This story from the BBC features some useful language for IELTS candidates. Click on the highlighted words for separate analysis. Alternatively, jump straight to the summary analyisis at the bottom!
Women in England and Wales are having 1.9 children on average, fewer than their mothers who had 2.2 offspring, according to the Office for National Statistics.
That’s a small decrease but the lowest level on record and continues the downward trend of the past few years.
The decline is in part due to a growing number of women not having children, with one-fifth now childless.
There has also been a fall in the number of teenage pregnancies.
About 6% of women have a baby before their 20th birthday, again continuing a long-term downward trend.
But “it’s not just childlessness,” said Emily Knipe of the Office for National Statistics. More and more women are having fewer babies.
The data showed about one in 10 mothers today having four or more children, compared with one in eight of their mothers’ generation.
Women are also having babies later. By their 30th birthdays, women today are likely to have had one child. Their mothers were likely to have had 1.8.
The ONS suggested this is because more women are going into higher education and are also delaying finding a partner.
Ms Knipe said: “It’s not just a biological factor of people leaving it too late. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests people are choosing not to have children.”
The data showed that the number of women having children in their teenage years, after peaking in the mid-20th Century, now matches figures for women born in the 1920s.
Imogen Stephens of Marie Stopes UK said it “shows that young people are taking better control of their fertility”.
“It is a big financial commitment to start a family and it is completely understandable that more women are choosing to complete their education, develop their careers and get on the housing ladder before having children.
“What is vital is that we support women’s choices to have children at the age that is right for them.”
By their 30th birthdays is a future time expression for ‘women today’ (= future perfect), and a past time expression for ‘their mothers’ (= past perfect).
For more information about past perfect click the past perfect tag.
Statistics noun postmodified with a preposition phrase, __ing, and another preposition phrase:
Noun post-modified with V3 – without the Indonesian ‘yang’ (the English ‘that’!).
For more information about the Indonesian ‘yang’, see this post.
Australians who disagreed or remained neutral had an upward trend during the period.
I mentioned in a previous post that ‘trend’ is a dangerous word and perhaps best avoided because:
The wrong collocation can cause meaning to change. In the example above, ‘upward trend‘ sounds like some kind of illness, which is something that we ‘have’, for example “I had a cold last week.” We might imagine the following conversation:
You: Sorry I missed our appointment yesterday. I had an upward trend.
Your friend: Sorry to hear that. I hope you’re feeling better!
Once again, it’s possible, and usually preferable to describe a trend without using the word ‘trend‘. Avoid it!
In general, all the lines show that there is an increasing trend of people with bronchitis.
When students are preparing for IELTS Task 1 writing they learn the importance of describing ‘trends’ in graphs, tables and charts. Not surprisingly, they go ahead and use the word ‘trend’ to describe these trends. But native speakers almost never do that.
In the opening example a trend is described, but the word ‘trend’ is redundant. It is enough to write:
This kind of statement stands out as ‘a trend’ because it says something general about a change over time without mentioning data.
So here’s your checklist for a trend:
Understand also, that a trend is often ‘hidden’ in data that is highly irregular. In the following graph grammatical accuracy goes up and down erratically over time, but the general trend (shown by the straight line) is downward.
The ‘trend’ in this graph can be described:
The more frequently the word ‘trend’ is used, the less accurate the writing.
Sample text by @guruEAP. Click highlighted text for explanations.
In general, Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton attract by far the highest numbers of Twitter followers, but all candidates enjoyed significant increases in follower numbers during the period. In terms of average retweets per tweet, Bernie Sanders joins Trump and Clinton in the top three. Trump’s Twitter account saw almost twice as many retweets as Sanders’, and more than three times as many as Clinton’s. However, Sanders trumps trump when it comes to retweets per tweet per 1,000 followers.
In general – This is the most concise way to introduce an overview, and remember that an overview is important if you want a good score for Task Achievement. See public band descriptors for Task 1. (back)
attract – This is more sophisticated vocabulary than simply saying ‘have’. (back)
by far – This is a good way to intensify a superlative adjective. (back)
numbers – ‘number’ (without ‘s’) is also possible. However, each candidate has a number of followers, so technically there is more than one ‘number’. (back)
but – In this part of the essay it is often possible, and therefore a good idea, to show comparison and/or contrast. Remember to signal this contrast (here I use ‘but’.). (back)
enjoyed – Again, this is more sophisticated than simply saying ‘had’. (back)
significant – This is a more sophisticated alternative to ‘big’, ‘large’, ‘huge’, etc. (back)
in – The correct preposition after ‘increase(s)’. (back)
during the period – If you have already mentioned the period – July 1 2015-Feb 29 2016 – in your opening statement, then you can use this phrase to refer back to it. (back)
in terms of – This is an extremely useful phrase in Task 1 writing. With this phrase you make clear to the examiner exactly what it is you are talking about. (back)
in the top three – Ranking items is usually possible, and often desirable, in the overview. (back)
saw – More sophisticated than ‘had’. (back)
twice as many – Always look for multiples! (back)
trump – Be careful when you use idioms, but they increase your score for lexical resource (=vocabulary). Take a look in a dictionary at the idiomatic uses of ‘trump’. (back)
when it comes to – An alternative to ‘in terms of’ to make clear exactly what you are talking about. (back)
IELTS Writing Task 1 public band descriptors