trends

Men and women and work

Posted on December 5, 2017March 13, 2018 by Pak Guru

This article from the Economist includes some nice vocabulary and structures for IELTS Task 1 writing. Click linked words and phrases for more information or head directly to the analysis below.

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.”

Analysis

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).

Although female-dominated industries have suffered fewer job losses from globalisation and technological change, they also pay less.

Referencing and substitution

One way to avoid repetition in your writing is to refer to nouns using referencing words as substitutes (it, they, this, those, etc). using these will improve your score for coherence and cohesion (CC). Examples here include:

This form of segregation.. (= men and women pursue different lines of work)
..those that have long employed women.. (those = ‘the fastest growing industries in America)
This does not mean.. (This = slow growth of sectors dominated by men)
..they also pay less. (they = slow growth of sectors dominated by men)
..the figure (= % of American doctors and lawyers who are women)
..this process takes time (= changing male and female roles in the workplace)
At this rate.. (= the rate at which full gender equality is to be achieved)

Notice that the pronoun ‘it’ is not used at all as a substitute! Read this post to find out why.

Vocabulary (Lexical Resource)

In IELTS terms there is some high-band vocabulary and interesting collocation:

pursue (v) + lines of work (n)
segregation (n) – in this case male / female
better off (adj) – comparative form of well-off (wealthy)
capture (v) + jobs (n)
mere (adj) – to emphasise a low figure
gender (adj) + parity (n) – sophisticated synonym for gender equality
the field – the work field (Make sure you establish a context before reducing a phrase like this!)

Tenses

Present simple is used for situations that are true all the time:

Men and women often pursue different lines of work.
etc.

Present perfect is used to talk about trends that began in the past and are still happening now:

..many sectors…have grown much more slowly..
etc.

Will is used for prediction:

..the field will not achieve gender parity for another 200 years.

Percentages

When a percentage is mentioned for the first time it is always followed by of + the whole. If you’re not sure what is meant by the whole, I suggest you read this.

In the 1960s, less than 10% of American doctors and lawyers were women.
Today over 60% of chefs and cooks are men.
..a mere 10% of all nursing jobs.

If you’re preparing for IELTS Task 1, I strongly recommend that you read my other posts that deal with percentages.

Structures

The writer uses a participle clause to add information about a trend. In IELTS Task 1 this structure – comma + __ing – is often used to present the result(s) of a trend. For more information, see this post.

Today, women graduate from university at higher rates than men, putting them in a stronger position for many well-paid professional jobs that were once male-dominated.

Babies, trends, and past perfect

Posted on November 28, 2017March 13, 2018 by Pak Guru

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.

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.”

Analysis

v/n collocation

(to) have children
(to) have offspring
..continue (a) (upward/downward) trend
..continues the downward trend of the past few years.
..again continuing a long-term downward trend.

Noun form as sentence theme

The decline is in part due to..

Noun form of used rather than verb form

There has also been a fall in the number of teenage pregnancies.

Describing a trend without using the word trend

More and more women are having fewer babies.
Women are also having babies later.
..more women are going into higher education and are also delaying finding a partner.
..people are choosing not to have children.
..more women are choosing to complete their education, develop their careers and get on the housing ladder before having children.

By + time expression

By their 30th birthdays, women today are likely to have had one child. Their mothers were likely to have had 1.8.

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.

Postmodified nouns

Statistics noun postmodified with a preposition phrase, __ing, and another preposition phrase:

..the number of women having children in their teenage years

Noun post-modified with V3 – without the Indonesian ‘yang’ (the English ‘that’!).

..women born in the 1920s.

For more information about the Indonesian ‘yang’, see this post.

Trends can make you ill

Posted on December 2, 2016March 12, 2018 by Pak Guru

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:

it is usually redundant
it carries with it unusual collocation that does not translate easily from other languages

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!

Being trendy without ‘trend’

Posted on May 23, 2016March 14, 2018 by Pak Guru

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:

In general, all the lines show that the incidence of bronchitis is increasing.

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:

It is expressed as a sentence
It does not feature the word ‘trend‘
It says something general without mentioning values from the graph, table or chart
It describes a change over time
The thing that is affected by change is named specifically (‘incidence‘).

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.

Trump, Twitter, Trends, Task 1

Posted on March 2, 2016March 11, 2018 by Pak Guru

IELTS Task 1 trends practice activity

Study the chart below (source here).
On a piece of paper, write a short paragraph describing the main trends. Don’t look at PG’s text just yet!
Read PG’s sample text (below). Click highlighted text for explanations.

20160305_woc571_0

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.

Notes

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)

Useful resources

IELTS Writing Task 1 public band descriptors