Describing Visual Data — C1 Writing
Cheat sheet · Useful language
Read this first — it's your guide for the three exercises. Try to use 4–5 of these expressions.
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| rise / increase / grow / climb | Car use rose in the early years. |
| fall / decline / drop / decrease | Bus use fell during the first decade. |
| slightly · steadily · gradually · significantly · sharply · considerably · slowly · rapidly | Train use rose significantly after 2010. |
| a slight increase · a steady rise · a gradual decrease · a sharp fall · a significant rise · a considerable drop · a slight dip | There was a sharp fall in bus numbers after 2000. |
| overtake · remain ahead of · fall behind · move into first place | English overtook Mandarin in 2025. |
| fluctuate · vary · dip | Train travel fluctuated slightly after 2000. |
| remain stable · stay the same · level off | The figure remained stable for about ten years. |
| slightly/significantly/considerably higher or lower than · substantially more … than · almost as many … as | Train use became significantly higher than bus travel after 2010. |
| just under · just over · approximately · around · nearly | Bus use fell to just under 3 million. |
| is expected to · is projected to · is likely to | Car use is expected to reach 9 million by 2030. |
Exercise 1 · Pie charts: global electricity mix
Choose the correct option to complete each sentence about the charts.
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1In 2020, renewables accounted for a _____ of electricity generation than in 2000.
2Nuclear power experienced _____ of global electricity generation in 2020 compared with 2000.
3Hydropower _____ over the two decades.
4Fossil fuels experienced a _____ between 2000 and 2020.
5In 2000, renewables represented a _____ of electricity generation.
6By 2020, renewables represented _____ among the four energy sources.
7Compared with renewables, nuclear power saw a _____ over the period.
8Fossil fuels continued to account for _____ of electricity generation in both years.
9In 2020, hydropower accounted for a share that was _____ its level in 2000.
10The charts show that renewables underwent the _____ change of all four categories.
Exercise 2 · Bar chart: devices used to go online
Choose the correct word or phrase to complete each sentence about the chart.
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1In 2000, computers accounted for of devices used to go online, representing around 90% of users.
2Mobile internet use between 2000 and 2010, rising from about 10% to roughly 40%.
3Tablet use was virtually non-existent in 2000 but emerged by 2010, when it around 15% of users.
4Computer use declined over the period, falling from 90% in 2000 to approximately 40% in 2020.
5By 2010, computers still represented the most common way of going online, despite a in mobile use.
6Between 2010 and 2020, mobile devices experienced the , climbing to about 85%.
7In 2020, mobile devices computers to become the main way of accessing the internet.
8Tablet use a gradual increase after 2010, reaching around 35% by 2020.
9While computer use considerably over time, mobile and tablet use both showed clear upward trends.
10 , the chart shows a clear shift away from computers towards mobile devices as the dominant means of going online.
Exercise 3 · Table: most spoken languages
Complete the description of the table. Write one or two words in each gap.
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The table shows the five most spoken languages in the world in 1900, 2000 and 2025, with figures given in millions of speakers. Each list is ranked according to the total number of native and non-native speakers.
1 , all major languages except Russian show an upward trend, with English experiencing the most significant2 . Mandarin and Spanish also3 across the period, while French drops out of the top five after 2000 and is replaced by Arabic, whose numbers increase more rapidly in the early twenty-first century.
In 1900, Mandarin had the highest number of speakers at 472 million, while Spanish and English had4 . Between 1900 and 2000, all three languages increased5 : English more than doubled, climbing from 270 to 633 million, and Spanish also rose substantially. Hindi followed a similar upward trend, growing from 234 to 395 million.
By 2025, English6 the highest figure at around 1.5 billion speakers,7 Mandarin, which also shows a considerable rise to roughly 1.1 billion. Spanish continues its8 , increasing to about 610 million, while Arabic records a noticeable rise compared with earlier periods.