Describing Graphs and Charts

Here are some nouns and verbs that might help you add variety to your text.

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	Verbs	Nouns
For upward trends (i.e. when lines are going up on a graph)	Rise Increase Grow Go up Improve Jump Surge Shoot up Soar Rocket Recover, stage a recovery Expand	A rise An increase Growth An upward trend An increasing trend A rising trend An improvement A jump A surge A recovery An expansion
For downward trends	Fall Decrease Drop Decline Go down Slump Plummet Reduce	A fall A decrease A decline A downward trend A falling trend A decreasing trend A slump A reduction
When things aren’t changing	Remain constant Remain stable Stay at the same level Stabilise Level out Plateau
When there is a frequent change	Fluctuate	Fluctuation
When the line hits its lowest level	Bottoms out Reaches a low Hits a low Reaches its lowest point Hits its lowest point	Lowest level
When the line hits its highest point	Peaks Reaches its highest point Reaches a peak	Highest level

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We can also use a range of adjectives and adverbs to describe how the movement is occurring.

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Adjectives	Adverbs
Considerable	Considerably
Dramatic	Dramatically
Gradual	Gradually
Marked	Markedly
Moderate	Moderately
Rapid	Rapidly
Sharp	Sharply
Significant	Significantly
Slight	Slightly
Slow	Slowly
Steady	Steadily
Steep	Steeply
Sudden	Suddenly

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Now you can’t use all of these words all of the time, but with the help of this vocabulary you should be able to explain your graphs and charts in a clear and meaningful way, indicating the direction and speed/magnitude of the movement without just saying ‘went down’ and ‘went up’.