BADGE – Becoming a Digital Global Engineer
Intellectual Output
BADGE – Becoming a Digital Global Engineer
Project 2019-1-FR01-KA203-063010 (167 512 512)
Topic outline
Objectives
After studying this unit, you will be able to …
- describe data presented in a graphical form using appropriate language;
- use appropriate vocabulary to express a rising trend (verbs and nouns);
- use appropriate vocabulary to express a falling trend (verbs and nouns);
- use a glossary to show the intensity of changes (adjectives and adverbs);
- decide on the grammatical tense to best describe trends and changes.
Warm up questions
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Why are visuals used in books, presentations and documentation?
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What types of visuals are commonly used in your field of study? Why?
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How do you describe rising and falling trends on a graph?
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When describing a graph, why is it important to not only describe changes, but also their intensity?
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Did you know?
To develop your language for graphical descriptions, you need to understand and use terminology relevant for that particular graphic. The language to describe graphs is related to many features (such as axes, fractions, areas, etc.). To describe data correctly involves reading and understanding the legend provided. Once you have considered, analyzed and understood the given information, the next step is to decide on appropriate vocabulary to describe and interpret the data.
Instructional material
As we know from the former units, graphical representation can take a wide variety of forms. However, there are common features that provide the ability to extract meaning from data. To analyse the graphical representation itself, it is enough to understand the language of the legend, the titles of the axes and labels in the graph. However, to describe and interpret the graphics, one needs to know the language of graphs.
In general, inferring and deducing meaning from pictures is quicker than from text, but a precise description (text) is used in many branches to annotate data and to interpret it.
One of the most important text elements in a graph is the title, which usually appears above the main graphics and provides a succinct description of what the data in the graph refers to. The title itself, however, is not sufficient to understand the content. All the data, along with any correlations, individual textual labels, dots, shapes, colour combinations and patterns, as well as the legend (also known as the key) need to be considered and described thoroughly. A typical legend contains a list of the variables appearing in the graphics and an example of their appearance. This information allows the data from each variable to be identified. Thus, describing a graph is a process of analysing the data, examining the content, choosing the form and finally, deciding on the right kind of language.
To express trends, movement, inclinations, changes, etc., we should use appropriate verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs depending on the kind of action we need to describe.
Examples of useful words, phrases and expressions are listed below:
VERBS and NOUNS
UP
LEVEL
DOWN
VERB
(present and past form)
NOUN
VERB
(present and past form)
NOUN
VERB
(present and past form)
NOUN
to improve (d)
an improvement
to remain (ed) stable/ steady/ consistent/ at a constant level/ value
a constant level/ value
to fall (fell)
a fall
to rise (rose)
a rise
to level (led) off
---
to drop (ped)
a drop
to stand (stood) at
---
to reach (ed) the lowest point / level / value
the lowest point / level / value
to go (went) up
---
to fluctuate (d)
fluctuactions
to go (went) down
---
to increase (d)
an increase
to oscillate (d)
oscillation
to decrease (d)
a decrease
to grow (grew)
a growth
not change (did not)
no change
to decline (d)
a decline
to climb (ed)
a climb
to stay (ed) constant
---
to dip (ped)
a dip
to boom (ed)
a boom
to maintain (ed) the same level
the same level
to reduce (d)
a reduction
to peak (ed)
a peak
to undulate (d)
---
to collapse (d)
a collapse
to level (led) up
a level
to stabilize (d)
---
to plunge (d)
a plunge
to ascend (ed)
an ascend
to plummet (ed)
---
to recover (ed)
a recover
to worsen (ed)
---
to soar (ed)
---
to deteriorate (d)
a deterioration
to double (d)
---
to halve (d)
a halving /
a half
to multiply (ied)
---
to depreciate (d)
a depreciation
to exceed (ed)
---
TOP
BOTTOM
to reach (ed) a peak/ maximum, the highest level/ value / point
a peak/ maximum level/ value / point
to have (had) the lowest point / level / value
the lowest point / level / value
to bottom(ed) out
---
to sink (sank) to fall (fell) to a trough (of)
---
A description of a graph quite often requires information about the intensity of the changes which are described. In such cases, adjectives and adverbs that describe the nature of the changes, trends and inclinations should be used.
Adverbs are used to clarify the intensity of verbs, and we use adjectives to specify the intensity of nouns, e.g.:
Sales rose sharply. (V + Adv)
= There was a sharp rise in sales. (Adj + N)
Examples of useful adjectives and adverbs are listed below:
ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS
ADJECTIVES
ADVERBS
considerable
considerably
dramatic
dramatically
gentle
gently
gradual
gradually
huge
hugely
massive
massively
minimal
minimally
quick
quickly
rapid
rapidly
sharp
sharply
significant
significantly
slight
slightly
slow
slowly
steady
steadily
steep
steeply
substantial
substantially
sudden
suddenly
swift
swiftly
Focusing on grammar should not the main focus when it comes to a graph description, but it is good to know which grammatical tenses can be used. This depends on what we want to say. However, there are tenses which are used extremely often, while others are used rather rarely. The Past Simple is the most common tense as most graphs show data from the past (e.g. Sales increased sharply in 2021). Present and Past Simple Passives are used quite often to show data from the past and the present, e.g. It can be seen that …, Furniture imports are/ were shown/ seen … . If the graph has predictions for the future, we can use phrases such as is/are forecast to, is/are projected to, is/are expected to, is/are predicted to (e.g. Furniture sales are expected to increase in 2022.). Present Perfect or Past Perfect can also be used sometimes (e.g. This decade, furniture sales have/ had increased sharply.)
The choice of appropriate prepositions is yet another crucial part of graph descriptions. Improving accuracy in this area can make the graph description professional and correct. Knowing whole prepositional phrases, rather than single words, makes the process of description more automatized and faster?
Samples of prepositional phrases are listed below:
Sales rose by 5%.
Food fell from 1000 units to 500 units.
Inflation remained stable at 2 percent.
There was a decrease in production.
There is a fall of 5% in production.
Prices increased by $10 per item.
Bibliography and references
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McCarthy, M., O’Dell, F. (2016). “Academic Vocabulary in Use”, Cambridge University Press.
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Reynolds, S., Valentine, D. (2006). “Guide for internationals” Culture, communication and ESL (English as a Second Language) (Prentice Hall Series in Advanced Business Communication). Pearson Prentice Hall.
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Szczuka-Dorna, L., Vendome, E. (2017). “Introduction to Interpersonal Communication”. Poznan Publishing House of Poznan University of Technology.
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https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/Charts_and_Diagrams.htm
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