Interpreting and Describing

Graphs
Interpreting Graphs
 Look at the following graph:
12
Number of customers in bakery

10

0
8:00 AM 10:00 12:00 2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM
AM PM
Time of the day
 Look at the following graph:
12
Number of customers in bakery

10

0
8:00 AM 10:00 12:00 2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM
AM PM
Time of the day

What is it about?
 Look at the following graph:
12
Number of customers in bakery

10

0
8:00 AM 10:00 12:00 2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM
AM PM
Time of the day

What is the busiest time of day at the bakery?

 Look at the following graph:
12
Number of customers in bakery

10

0
8:00 AM 10:00 12:00 2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM
AM PM
Time of the day

At what time does business start to slow down?

 Look at the following graph:
12
Number of customers in bakery

10

0
8:00 AM 10:00 12:00 2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM
AM PM
Time of the day

How many people are in the bakery when it opens?

 Look at the following graph:
12
Number of customers in bakery

10

0
8:00 AM 10:00 12:00 2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM
AM PM
Time of the day

How many people are in the store at 2:00 PM?

 Functions of Graphs
Graphs always tell a story and carry a
message.
They are a quick way to make comparisons
and see trends.
 Interpreting Graphs
Try to interpret that message by asking yourself:
What does the graph mean?
What is the main point of the graph?
What pattern or trend do I see?
Are some values significantly different from others?
Is it possible to generalize relative proportions?
What do I see over time?
 The graph on the left
shows the relationship
between the number of
customers getting
haircuts and price of a
haircut.
What does it mean?
 The number of customers
depends on the price of the
haircut.
The price in dollars is the
independent variable and the
number of customers is the
dependent variable.
As the price increases, the
number of customers
decreases linearly. Fewer
people are willing to pay a
high price; a lower price
attracts more customers.
The slope indicates the
number of customers lost for
each dollar increase.
What does it show?

Firstly, look at the axis to see

what the graph represents.
 How many swimmers
were there in May?
In August?
Overall, the trend
shows that the
number of swimmers
is greatest during
what month(s)?
Describing Graphs
Important points in describing a graph
In order to describe a graph effectively, you
have to:
Be accurate
Be cohesive
Communicate
 Basics of describing a graph

Give the main point, and then support the main

point using detailed information from the graph.

Do not tell a very long story outside the graph.

 Organization
Introduction
As can be seen from/in the chart/diagram/graph
It can be seen from the graph that .
As shown in Figure 1 ..
We can see from the figure that ..
Body
There is / was a / very ..
Conclusion
To conclude .
In conclusion
The graph concludes .
Finally .
 The graph illustrates three
ways of sewage management
in Japan and the United
States, namely recycle,
incineration, and land fill.
As can be seen from the
graph, in Japan, 55% of
sewage is managed by
recycling, while 22% and 28%
are managed by incinerating
and land filling, respectively.

Meanwhile, the highest percentage of sewage management in the US

is done by land filling, i.e. 60%. The other two methods are less used
and have lower percentages.
It can be concluded that Japan prefers to use recycling for its sewage
management, whereas the US chooses to use land filling.
 Trends in graphs
Graphs have four basic trends:
Upward movement
Downward movement
No movement
Change in direction
 Indicating upward movement
Verbs Nouns
Transitive Intransitive
(to) increase (to) increase (an) increase
(to) raise (to) rise (rose, risen) (a) raise (US), a rise (UK)
(to) push/put/step up (to) go/be up (an) upswing
(to) grow (a) growth
(to) extend, (to) expand (to) extend, (to) expand (an) extension, expansion
(to) progress (a) progression
(to) boom/soar/climb (a) boom
(to) jump, (to) skyrocket (a) jump
(to) reach a peak, (to) peak (a) peak
(to) reach an all-time high
 Indicating downward movement
Verbs Nouns
Transitive Intransitive
(to) decrease (to) decrease (a) decrease
(to) cut, (to) reduce (a) cut, (a) reduction
(to) fall (off) (a) fall
(to) plunge, to plummet (a) plunge
(to) drop (off) (a) drop
(to) go down (a) downswing
(to) decline (a) decline
(to) collapse (a) collapse (dramatic fall)
(to) slump, (to) go bust (a) slump
(to) bottom out
 Indicating no movement
Verbs Nouns
Transitive Intransitive
(to) keep ... stable (to) remain stable
(to) hold ... constant (to) stay constant
(to) stabilize (to) stabilize stability
Indicating a change in direction
Verbs Nouns
Transitive Intransitive
(to) level off (to) level off/out, to flatten out (a) levelling-off
(to) stop falling/rising (a) change
(to) stand at (to) remain steady
(to) stop falling and start rising
(to) stop rising and start falling
Sales to the UK market rose (1).... between 1985
and 1987. Then there was a (2) . decrease in 1988
when the main distributor went out off business. Sales
recovered (3) .. in 1989, and the (4) ...
improvement in 1990 brought Asia back to the 1985 level.
There was (5) .. rise in exports in 1986. They went up
(6).. In 1987 when we began to break into the
Europe market. They rose (7) in 1988 when we
signed the new agency agreements, and followed by (8)
. increase in 1989 and 1990.
 The chart above shows information about the challenges people face
when they go to live in other countries.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main
features, and make comparisons where relevant.