1 Gun ownership right is essential as law-abiding citizens should be able to protect their lives.
2 A ‘Right to Die’ is also a right.
3 Human beings do not need meat to maintain good health.
4 Immigrants shall preserve their cultural background rather than assimilate.
5 Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes. (B. Brecht)
II Useful Vocabulary: Describing visuals (B1/B2/C1)
In technical and scientific pieces, information is often presented in tables, graphs, diagrams and other visuals.
Types of visuals
Diagrams are visual ways of presenting data concisely. In academic articles they are usually labeled ‘figures’ (e.g. Fig. 1).
| A flow chart is a diagram which indicates the stages of a process. | A pie chart displays the size of each part as a percentage of a whole. It is divided into segments. A key(or legend) shows what each segment represents. | A bar chart is used to compare different items. Bars vary in height or length. |
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| A line chart depicts changes over a period of time, showing data and trends. | A table is a grid with columns and rows. | A diagram is a drawing showing arrangements and situations, such as networks, distribution, fluctuation, etc. |
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Presenting a graph
The graph presents/shows/indicates/plots data retaining to the population growth in Canada from 1978 to 2009. It is taken from Statistics in Canada website.
The horizontal (x) axis indicates years and the vertical (y) axis shows population. There are three graphs in the chart. The green graph shows the total growth of the population, the black one deals with the migrated people in Canada and the blue graph shows the natural increase of the population. In 1988/89 there was an enormous growth. In the following years the total growth went down to about 250,000 in 1998/99. From that time on the Canadian population has been gradually growing again although the natural increase slows down. So we can say that the growth of the population in Canada is based on migration/ It can be concluded that migration largely accounts for population growth in Canada.
Here are some other expressions for describing a graph.
| Introduction | Topic | Circumstances |
| This graph shows... | the results of our products... | over 10 years. |
| The diagram outlines... | rates of economic growth... | between 1990 and 1996. |
| This table lists... | the top ten agencies... | in the industrial world. |
| This pie chart represents … | the company's turnover... | for this year in our sector. |
| This line chart depicts... | the changes in sales... | over the past year. |
| This chart breaks down... | the sales of each salesman... | during the past ten weeks. |
Describing movements & trends:
An upward trend
| Verbs | Nouns | |
| Transitive | Intransitive | |
| (to) increase | (to) increase | (an) increase |
| (to) raise | (to) rise (rose, risen) | (a) raise (US), a rise (UK) |
| (to) push/put/step up | (to) go/be up | (an) upswing |
| (to) grow | (a) growth | |
| (to) extend, (to) expand | (to) extend, (to) expand | (an) extension, expansion |
| (to) progress | (a) progression | |
| (to) boom/soar/climb | (a) boom | |
| (to) jump, (to) skyrocket | (a) jump | |
| (to) reach a peak, (to) peak | (a) peak | |
| (to) reach an all-time high |
A downward trend
| Verbs | Nouns | |
| Transitive | Intransitive | |
| (to) decrease | (to) decrease | (a) decrease |
| (to) cut, (to) reduce | (a) cut, (a) reduction | |
| (to) fall (off) | (a) fall | |
| (to) plunge, to plummet | (a) plunge | |
| (to) drop (off) | (a) drop | |
| (to) go down | (a) downswing | |
| (to) decline | (a) decline | |
| (to) collapse | (a) collapse (dramatic fall) | |
| (to) slump, (to) go bust | (a) slump | |
| (to) bottom out |
No movement
| Verbs | Nouns | |
| Transitive | Intransitive | |
| (to) keep... stable | (to) remain stable | |
| (to) hold... constant | (to) stay constant | |
| (to) stabilize | (to) stabilize | stability |
A change of direction
| Verbs | Nouns | |
| Transitive | Intransitive | |
| (to) level off | (to) level off/out, to flatten out | (a) levelling-off |
| (to) stop falling/rising | (a) change | |
| (to) stand at | (to) remain steady |