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IELTS Writing Task 1
Christophe Sagnet and Catherine
Sloan
Live Language

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Describe a line graph
Problems:
vocabulary
grammar
The diagram below illustrates sales of laptops and desktop computers in
a UK electronic store between 1990 and 2010.

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Lesson aims
 Lexical Resource: Language of change
i.e. increase, rise, decrease, decline
 Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Use a variety of
structures
i.e. Sales increased; There was an increase in sales

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Lexical Resource: Verbs 1
Sales decreased.
Sales fell.
Sales dropped.
Sales declined.

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Lexical Resource: Verbs 2
Sales increased.
Sales rose.
Sales grew.
Sales climbed.

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Practice 1: Which sentence is
correct?
1.  Sales fell. Sales rose.
2. Sales increased. Sales increase.
3.  Sales claimed. Sales climbed.
4.  Sales dropped. Sales droped.
Problems:
spelling

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Sales fell.
Subject + verb.
There was a fall in sales.
There was a + noun + in sales.

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Grammar focus
Sales fell.
declined.
decreased.
dropped.
increased.
rose.
climbed.
grew.
Sales
There was a fall
a decline
a decrease
a drop
in sales. There was an increase
a rise
a climb
a growth
in sales.

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Practice 2: Grammatical Range and
Accuracy
Sales increased.
There was…
There was an increase in sales.
Sales grew.
There was…
There was a growth in sales.
Sales climbed.
There was…
There was a climb in sales.
Sales dropped.
There was…
There was a drop in sales.

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Writing: 20 minutes
Think about:
vocabulary
grammar
The diagram below illustrates sales of laptops and desktop computers in
a UK electronic store between 1990 and 2010.

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Sample answer: Strengths
The line graph shows how many people bought laptops and desktop
computers in one British electronics shop over a period of twenty
years.
To begin with, desktop computers were more popular than laptops.
Between 1990 and 2002, sales of desktop computers rose
dramatically from 3,000 to 6000. Over the rest of the period, there
was a substantial decline in sales, from 6000 to approximately 2,500.
Fewer people bought laptops at the beginning of the period. There
was a steady increase in sales from 500 to about 1,500 between 1990
and 1997. Then sales climbed sharply to reach 6,000 in 2010. By the
end of the period, laptops were less popular than desktops.
Overall, sales of desktops fell. However, there was a significant
growth in laptop sales.

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Summary
 Lexical Resource: Language of change
i.e. increase, rise, decrease, decline
 Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Use a variety of
structures
i.e. Sales increased; There was an increase in sales

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Next: Writing introductions
The diagram below illustrates sales of laptops and desktop computers in
a UK electronic store between 1990 and 2010.
The line graph shows how many people bought laptops and desktop
computers in one British electronics shop over a period of twenty years.
The question:
The introduction:
The next lesson will be available at the end of
October 2012. See you again soon!