Key Vocabulary & Grammar for Data Description

Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy together account for 50% of your Task 1 score. This lesson provides a comprehensive vocabulary and grammar reference specifically for describing data, with examples and common errors to avoid. Master this material and you will have the language tools for Band 7+.

---

Trend Vocabulary: The Complete Reference

Upward Movement

Verb	Noun	Adjective/Adverb
increase	an increase	increasing / increasingly
rise	a rise	rising
grow	growth	growing
climb	a climb	climbing
go up	an upturn	upward
surge	a surge	surging
soar	—	soaring
rocket	—	rocketing
boom	a boom	booming
expand	an expansion	expanding

Downward Movement

Verb	Noun	Adjective/Adverb
decrease	a decrease	decreasing / decreasingly
fall	a fall	falling
drop	a drop	dropping
decline	a decline	declining
go down	a downturn	downward
plummet	—	plummeting
plunge	a plunge	plunging
shrink	a contraction	shrinking
dip	a dip	—
sink	—	sinking

Speed and Intensity Adverbs

Dramatic change	Moderate change	Small change
sharply	steadily	slightly
dramatically	moderately	marginally
rapidly	gradually	fractionally
steeply	progressively	negligibly
significantly	consistently	minimally
substantially
considerably

Combining Verbs and Adverbs

The combination of verb + adverb creates precise descriptions:

Combination	Meaning
rose sharply	increased a lot in a short time
increased gradually	went up slowly over time
declined slightly	went down a small amount
plummeted dramatically	fell very fast and very far
fluctuated erratically	went up and down unpredictably
remained relatively stable	stayed mostly the same

Band 7+ Tip: Use at least 5–6 different verb-adverb combinations in your response. Repeating "increased" and "decreased" limits your Lexical Resource score.

---

Using Verb and Noun Forms Interchangeably

One of the most effective ways to demonstrate grammatical range is to express the same trend using both verb and noun forms.

Verb Form

"Tourist numbers rose sharply from 2 million to 5 million between 2010 and 2015."

Noun Form

"There was a sharp rise in tourist numbers, from 2 million to 5 million, between 2010 and 2015."

Another Noun Form

"A sharp rise of 3 million in tourist numbers was recorded between 2010 and 2015."

Verb + Adverb	Adjective + Noun
rose sharply	a sharp rise
increased steadily	a steady increase
declined gradually	a gradual decline
dropped significantly	a significant drop
grew moderately	moderate growth
fell slightly	a slight fall

---

Data Description Grammar

Prepositions for Data

These prepositions are critical and frequently misused:

Preposition	Usage	Example
at	A specific value	"peaked at 500"
from...to	Start and end of a change	"rose from 200 to 500"
by	The amount of change	"increased by 300"
of	Following a noun	"a rise of 300"
between...and	A time range	"between 2010 and 2020"
in	A specific year	"in 2015"
over	A time period	"over the decade"
during	A time period	"during the 1990s"
around/about	Approximation	"around 500"
to	Reaching a specific level	"climbed to 800"

Common Preposition Errors

Wrong	Right
"increased from 200 by 500"	"increased from 200 to 500"
"peaked in 500"	"peaked at 500"
"rose at 300"	"rose by 300"
"between 2010 to 2020"	"between 2010 and 2020" or "from 2010 to 2020"

---

Complex Sentence Structures

1. Participle Clauses