Saturday, November 5, 2011

Essential Vocabulary for Bar Diagram

Recall the discussion about Line Graph, which presents “period of time” but, as mentioned there, Bar diagram/Pie Chart/Table shows “point of time”. Because of this difference, there should be variations in the vocabulary used in these two types of diagram.
To illustrate, let us go through the following bar diagram:


Like any other Task 1 diagram, you have to build relationship  among the data given. For better organization, you can remember the following basis of comparisons  These are the simplest ones which will ensure you a minimum band score.
  1.  Highest-Lowest
  2. Similar
  3. Exception
  4. Difference
  5. Times
  6. Fraction

Obviously, there are other “Basis of Comparisons”, but these suggested 6 types always give good return.
Now, let us see the use of these criteria.

Highest-Lowest: The highest quantity of TV sold by ABC company was in 1999 (20 million) and the lowest number of TV was sold in the year 1996 (only 2 million).

Similar: The number of TV sold was almost similar in the years 1997 and 1998 with 8 million and 10 million pieces respectively.

Exception: For the given years, the year 2000 is somewhat exceptional as no sales figure is given for that year.

Difference: You have to subtract one figure from another and show the difference. For example, the difference between the figures of 1995 and 1996 is 4 million units and you have to focus on this difference. The sentence may be as follows:
The sale of TV reduced by 4 million units from 5 million units in 1995 to 1 million units in 1996.

Times: You have to show how many times a given figure is of another figure. For instance, look at the figures of 1995 and 1999 (5 million and 20 million respectively). So, you can write as follows:
The sale of TV in 1999 was 4 times of that of the sale of 1995.

Fraction: This is the opposite of “Times” which should be used to improve sentence variation. Look at the figures of 1998 and 1995 (10 million and 5 million). Instead of writing 2 times or double, you can write “half”. So, the sentence may be:
The sale of TV in 1995 was half of the sale of 1998.

One important thing: Remember to put linking words among the sentences above. 

Followers