1. Describing trends

Notice the language patterns that can be used.

numbers have

risen gone up increased fallen dropped gone down decreased declined

sharply slightly

there has been a / there was a

tremendous huge significant considerable

increase decrease rise

in

(has) increased (has) decreased has gone up (or down) / went up (or down)			greatly significantly steeply a little by a small amount / large amount steadily consistently noticeably
(has) almost (has) more than	halved doubled tripled

/Adapted from New Headway English Course. Upper-Intermediate Student’s Book. Liz and John Soars/

2. Look at the graphs.

The incarceration rate in the USA doubled from 300 to 600 people per 100,000 population. (Incarceration means being put into prison.)

Make similar sentences about South Africa, England / Wales, Denmark, the Netherlands and Japan.

Which country had the most/fewest people in prison in 1985? Which country had the most/fewest people in prison in 1995?

I ncarceration rate

3 . Work in pairs. Look at the graph and fill in the gaps.

The graph represents statistics concerning offences involving firearms recorded by the police in England and Wales during the period 1972-90 submitted by the Home Office. The graph shows that in the last quarter of the twentieth century there was a definite (1)___________ in crimes with firearms (guns, rifles etc) in England and Wales.

During the period 1972-90 the number of criminal damage offences involving firearms showed (2)____________ from 4,500 to 11,000. From 1972 to 1981 there was a consistent (3)________________ in the number of criminal damage offences. From 1977 to 1978 criminal damage offences rose (4)___________ by (5)__________. During the period 1981-90 each fall in criminal damage offences was followed by (6)___________ . Criminal damage figures (7)_____________ steeply from 1985 to 1988.

Continue the analysis of the graph with information about robberies and violence against the person involving firearms.

Writing Writing a survey report

1. Read the definition of a survey report and do the task that follows.

Survey Reports Reports are pieces of factual writing which are usually based on some type of research. There are various types of reports such as: survey reports, reports assessing good and bad points of something, travel/holiday reports, news reports, witness statements, etc. A survey report is a formal piece of writing presenting and analyzing the results/findings of research concerning reactions to a product, plan, etc, including general assessment conclusions and/or recommendation(s).

The results of research can be presented in different ways:

A property developer is building a retirement complex. There is some extra space, so they have surveyed prospective residents as to which facility they would like included.

Pie graph/chart

Bar graph/chart

The pie chart represents the same results as the bar chart on the left. Can you fill out its sections with percentages?