IELTS Writing Task 1 Vocabulary: Trend Words, Comparisons and Passive Voice

Trend verbs and nouns

• Up: rose, increased, climbed, grew, surged, soared — 'a sharp rise', 'a steady increase'.
• Down: fell, declined, dropped, decreased, plunged — 'a gradual decline', 'a dramatic fall'.
• Flat: remained stable, levelled off, stayed constant, plateaued.
• Up and down: fluctuated, varied, oscillated.
• Turning points: peaked at, reached a high of, bottomed out at, hit a low of.

Adverbs and adjectives for speed and size

• Big and fast: sharply, dramatically, significantly, substantially, steeply.
• Small and slow: slightly, marginally, gradually, steadily, moderately.
• Grammar rule: adjective + noun ('a sharp rise'), verb + adverb ('rose sharply'). Mixing these up is the most common Task 1 error.

Proportion language for pie charts and tables

• accounted for 40% of, made up a third of, represented the majority of.
• just over half, approximately a quarter, a negligible proportion.
• the largest/smallest share, twice as much as, three times the figure for.

Comparison structures

• whereas / while: 'Bus travel declined, whereas rail journeys doubled.'
• respectively: 'Buses and trains carried 80 and 30 million passengers respectively.'
• in contrast / by contrast: 'Rail, by contrast, grew every year.'
• far more / considerably less: 'Trains carried far more passengers than buses by 2020.'

Passive voice for process diagrams

• 'The raw material is collected' — not 'they collect the raw material'.
• 'The mixture is heated to 100°C, then it is cooled rapidly.'
• Sequencers: initially, at the first stage, following this, subsequently, at this point, finally.

Build this vocabulary actively

Reading lists is not enough — you need to produce these phrases under time pressure. Our Vocabulary section has topic word lists with a matching game, and the Writing Task 1 practice page grades the vocabulary in your actual reports.