Useful phrases for IELTS Writing: Pie chart tasks

This is a short list of vital phrases to memorise in order to do well with IELTS Academic Writing Part 1 pie chart tasks. We provide a bigger list of useful phrases and over 300 pages of materials to give input on, practice and give feedback on in our IELTS Academic Writing tasks eBook.

 

The most useful phrases for IELTS Writing Task 1: Pie chart task introductions

Rephrasing the question/ A very brief description of the pie chart(s) given

1. The pie chart given shows the percentage of…
2. The chart gives data on the proportion of…
3. The pie chart on the left shows the ratio of…, whereas the righthand one gives data on the share of…
4. The chart at the top of the page gives statistics on the fraction of… that…, while that at the bottom illustrates figures related to how much three categories of… …
5. The diagram given shows comparisons of statistics related to the numbers of six kinds of…
6. The illustration given includes statistics on the amount of four different types of…

 

Summarising the pie chart(s)/ Description of what you notice about the pie chart(s) straightaway

7. There are a wide variety of different percentages.
8. Huge variations can be seen in the proportion of…
9. The biggest difference between the two pie charts is that…
10. There is a noticeable variation in how many…
11. The light-coloured segments represent the number of… while the dark-coloured ones give data on…
12. There are more differences than similarities between the amount of… and how much…
13. In two of the three pie charts,…
14. There are three segments (on each chart).

 

Sentence describing the structure of/ organisation of/ plan for/ body of your essay

15. I will look at the data in 19… and then move on to the later time period given.
16. I will explain the similarities between the different segments, before turning to the differences.
17. I will summarise the data related to European countries, then focus on nations in the other parts of the world.
18. I will describe the large segments of the pie chart and then turn my attention to the more minor parts.
19. I will describe the pie chart and then turn my attention to the table.
20. I will explain those two things in that order/ in turn (in the paragraphs below).

 

The most useful phrases for the body of IELTS Writing Part One: Pie chart essays

Starting body paragraphs

Starting any body paragraph

21. According to the darker segments of the chart,…
22. From the information given on the upper pie chart,…
23. Looking at the data related to…,….
24. If we look at the three largest shares shown on the chart,…

Starting the second (or third) body paragraph

25. Turning (our attention) to the remaining segments of the two charts,…
26. Moving on to the right-hand chart,…
27. The other pie chart/ The second chart/ The lower pie chart represents…
28. In (complete) contrast to the proportions in the Americas, the statistics on Eurasia show…
29. Compared to the numbers shown on the bottom chart, those on the top one…
30. As for the other figures,…

 

Stating (vague and exact) proportions/ percentages/ sizes of segments

31. about/ approximately/ around/ more or less/ roughly a half of the chart is taken up by…
32. just under/ nearly/ almost/ slightly lower than/ a little less than a third of the total consists of…
33. above/ (just) over/ (slightly) more than… percent
34. a half/ a third/ a quarter/ a fifth/ a …th
35. two thirds/ two fifths/ two …ths
36. three quarters/ three fifths/ three …ths
37. four fifths
38. dominates/ is dominated by
39. the (vast) majority/ most
40. the (second) largest segment (namely…)
41. (very) many
42. a huge percentage/ proportion/ share/ fraction/ amount/ number (of…)
43. a large percentage/ proportion/ share/ fraction/ amount/ number (of…)
44. a substantial percentage/ proportion/ share/ fraction/ amount/ number (of…)
45. a considerable percentage/ proportion/ share/ fraction/ amount/ number (of…)
46. a small percentage/ proportion/ share/ fraction/ amount/ number (of…)
47. a tiny percentage/ proportion/ share/ fraction/ amount/ number (of…)
48. (very) few/ little
49. a (small/ tiny) minority
50. a niche…
51. almost no
52. one in two/ in three/ in four/ in five/ in six/ in ten/ in …
53. two out of every three/ every four/ every five/ every…
54. the (second) smallest percentage/ proportion/ share/ fraction/ amount/ number/ group (of…)
55. …, to be precise…/ to be exact…
56. exactly/ precisely
57. quite a lot

 

The most useful phrases for comparing and contrasting pie charts and segments

Phrases for describing similarities between pie charts and segments

58. The two pie charts are (extremely/ very/ fairly) similar
59. This segment is (exactly/ just/ almost/ nearly/ two thirds/ half/ a quarter) as large as…
60. Similarly, the more recent data shows…
61. The main similarity between the two pie charts is…
62. The biggest similarity between the data in… and… is that…
63. The most obvious similarity between the pie charts on the two sides of the page is…
64. The clearest similarity between the earlier and later data is…
65. A major similarity between East Asia and Latin America is in the number of…
66. Like…,…
67. In common with that pie chart, the proportions in the other include…

Phrases for describing differences between pie charts and segments

68. While the top chart…, the bottom one…
69. The segments connected to electronic goods…, whereas those connected to furnishings...
70. The most obvious/ main/ biggest difference between the right-hand pie chart and the one on the left is that…
71. In contrast to that segment,…
72. In complete contrast to the three largest segments,…
73. (far/ much/ a great deal/ substantially/ considerably/ quite a lot/ somewhat/ slightly/ a bit/ a little/ a tiny bit) larger (percentage/ proportion/ share/ fraction/ amount/ number)
74. (far/ much/ a great deal/ substantially/ considerably/ quite a lot/ somewhat/ slightly/ a bit/ a little/ a tiny bit) smaller (percentage/ proportion/ share/ fraction/ amount/ number)
75. The largest segment is one and half times/ twice/ three times/ …. times as large as…
76. The next biggest segment is not (nearly/ quite) as large (as…)
77. This contrasts with the situation in South Asia, where the pie chart shows that…
78. A major difference between the first pie chart and the one next to it is the size of…
79. An obvious difference/ A clear difference between the data in 2003 and that of the following year is the shrinkage in…
80. Unlike the data in the earlier period,…
81. Compared to the data from the 1970s, the later period shows…
82. Comparing the two segments/ the two pie charts, we can see that…

 

Language for describing changes to pie charts

83. From the first to the second pie chart, this segment’s share of the total…
84. grow (grew grown) (by… percent/ … times/ substantially)
85. expand(ed) (by… half/ by a third/ by…/ twofold/ threefold/ fourfold/ …fold)
86. shrink (shrank shrunk) (by… percent/ slightly/ considerably/ dramatically)
87. (nearly/ more than) double(d)/ triple(d)/ quadruple(d)
88. halve(d)
89. remain(ed) unchanged
90. overtake (overtook overtaken)/ pass(ed)/ surpass(ed)
91. reach(ed) (a new share of)
92. match(ed)/ reach(ed) the same number as…

 

Describing positions of the pie charts

93. The upper pie chart/ The top chart…
94. The lower pie chart/ The bottom chart…
95. The right-hand pie chart/ The chart on the right…
96. The left-hand pie chart/ The chart on the left…
97. The pie chart above that…
98. The chart below that/ The pie chart under that…
99. To the left of/ To the right of/ Next to that pie chart is one which shows…
100. (In) between those two pie charts is one with statistics on…