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  • Hi. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam, and today's lesson is for those of you who

  • will be taking the IELTS test. Now, as usual, when I do an IELTS class, I will speak a little

  • bit faster, a little bit closer to natural speed for those of you who need the extra

  • listening practice. But this is for everybody; there's always something to learn,

  • it's all English.

  • So today we're going to specifically look at IELTS Task 1, and I'm going to give you

  • a few vocabulary that are essential to success in IELTS Task 1. You won't necessarily use

  • all of them every time, but you need to know these nine words that I'm going to show you-or

  • 10 words, depends how you look at it-you need to know these words so you're ready for pretty

  • much any kind of infographic that comes your way.

  • Now, most of the time and most of your practice, I'm sure, is graphs. Okay? So we're going

  • to start with looking at graphs, and we're going to look at these two words: "fluctuate",

  • a verb, okay? And: "fluctuation", a noun. Now, from my experience, checking students'

  • or test takers' essays, this word is quite often misused. Okay? I think sometimes people

  • are not exactly sure what this word means. So, to show you, I'm going to show you a graph, here.

  • This is a fluctuation. Let's say we're looking at a span of 2000 to 2014, so we're

  • looking 15 years of sales, let's say. Sales and whatever the number is in hundred of millions.

  • Okay? "Fluctuate" means to go up and down quite rapidly. Okay? It doesn't have to be

  • rapid; it could be steady,

  • but there's an up, there's a down, there's an up, there's a down.

  • If you're going something like this, this you don't call a fluctuation. Even though

  • it's not a straight line, it's still not a fluctuation, because overall, the sales are

  • still going upwards, they're still increasing. Fluctuation, there must be some downward movement

  • as well. It goes up and there's down from... Let's say from the starting point. So here

  • we go up, down, up, down, up, down. Here, it's mostly up. You very rarely go down below

  • where you started. So overall, you have an upward motion. This is to fluctuate. So, you

  • can use it as a verb: Over the span of the recording, of the record, of the 15 years,

  • sales fluctuated from let's say 100 million to as little... And ended up here, let's say,

  • it's a little bit lower to 110. So, overall, there was a slight increase, but sales fluctuated

  • throughout the period. Okay?

  • You can use "fluctuation". If you want to talk about the graph as a whole, you can say:

  • "The graph shows fluctuations in the sales numbers." Okay? The graph shows fluctuations.

  • Sales fluctuated. So you can talk about the... Whatever is on the x-axis itself, or you can

  • talk about the graph as a whole. Use "fluctuate" for whatever item is here; use "fluctuation"

  • for the graph as a whole.

  • Next: "plateau". Now, I know most of you probably know this word. If you're doing IELTS, you've

  • heard this word before and you've used it before, but a lot of you don't seem to understand

  • that "plateau" can be both a noun and a verb. Just like: "peak", the highest point can be

  • both a noun and a verb. Okay? So, just to make sure we understand: something is going

  • up, it stops for a while, it goes steady, it goes up again, it goes steady. This area

  • is a plateau. This area is a plateau. So, I'm going to use the same information, sales

  • and time. So, sales increased for the first five years, then they plateaued for the next

  • seven years, after which, they started to rise again until they reached their next plateau.

  • So, you see, I've used "plateau" as a verb: "They increase until they plateaued. Then

  • they continued to increase until they reached their next plateau." Verb, noun. Both of them

  • are okay. Try to use both of them, and make sure that you're referring to something. Now,

  • if you have something like this, this could be a plateau. But if you're going like this,

  • this is not a plateau. A plateau, usually, is not very short. It has to be somewhat extended.

  • If it's too short, then it's just a little pause, it's just a little steady pause. If

  • it's extended, then you have a plateau. And then, let's say it increased again... Actually,

  • I'll use a different colour now so we're not confused. And then started declining. So,

  • sales increased, increased, it plateaued for a while, then they increased again, then they

  • plateaued again, and then they increased again until they reached their peak. Let's say this

  • is 250. Okay? So, sales continuously increased until they reached their peak of 250,000."

  • Now, again, "peak" can be a noun or a verb. Sales increased until they peaked at 250.

  • After which, there was a sharp decline over the next three years. Okay? So sharp decline

  • over the next three years.

  • Now, if you have the opposite way, you have sales going down... Excuse me. Sales are going

  • down, down, down. Now, technically, you could say they "bottom out". "Bottom out" means

  • they reach their lowest level. But a safer way, because a lot of people also misuse this

  • expression, the safest way: "Until they reached their lowest point." Simple is best. But "peak"

  • you pretty much have to use, because you can't say: "There's going to be a lot of highest

  • points, highest point, highest point." You have to have sentence and vocabulary variety

  • in your writing, so use "peak" as a noun, use "peak" as a verb, use "plateau" as a noun,

  • use "plateau" as a verb.

  • Okay, let's continue. You've already heard me use this word: "overall". Again, "overall"

  • does not mean in conclusion. A lot of people use this word to introduce a conclusion. "Overall"

  • basically means you're looking at the whole graph, so you're looking at the entire span

  • of something. Here, we're looking at 2000 to 2014. This is your span. Okay? This is

  • the duration of the information, how long this information is being recorded on the

  • graph. Okay? So, you could say that: "Although sales started very low and they fluctuated,

  • and they reached a peak and then dropped again, overall, there is an increase." What does

  • that mean? It means: from this point to this point, there is an increase. So don't say:

  • "It went up, it went down, it went up. It went up for this year, then down for this

  • year." Just say: "There were fluctuations, but overall, sales went up over the span of

  • the report... Of the reported information." Okay?

  • Now, of course, we're speaking about "span". You must use this word. A lot of people do

  • not use this word enough when they're talking about time, a graph with time. Okay? So, again:

  • "span" is the duration from the beginning to the end. And again, "span" is both a noun

  • and a verb. The graph shows an overall increase over the span of a decade. This word is crucial.

  • Whenever you're talking about movement over time, you always talk about "over": over the

  • span of. Okay? Now, you don't say: "In the span of a decade". If you say: "In the span

  • of a decade", it means between 10 years, something happened. "Over the span of the decade" means

  • you're talking about beginning to end. So it's very important to use this preposition

  • with "span", with motion. As a verb: "The info, the information spans 15 years." It

  • means it goes from let's say 2000 to 2014. It covers 15 years of recorded information.

  • "Span" is a verb, "span" is a noun. Try to use both. Now, again, remember you don't want

  • to use the same word more than twice in an essay, unless you're using it once as a noun,

  • another time as a verb, you demonstrate command of this word, which will get you a little

  • bit extra points if you use them correctly. Okay, let's look at some other words.

  • Okay, so now we have a few more words we're going to look at. Now, the reason I chose

  • these is because these are very, very commonly misused. Okay? People send me their samples,

  • they want me to check them. I fix these words all the time. People always make mistakes

  • with these words. Ages. If you're going to talk about age groups within your charts,

  • or tables, or graphs, or whatever, then you're going to use these words. Now, let's say there

  • are groups, there are four age groups: 18-25, 26-35, etc. If you want to talk about this

  • group... Now, there's two ways you can do it. You can mention the young group, the middle

  • group, the old group, or if you want to talk about specific ages, you can say: "Those aged..."

  • It basically means "who are aged 18-25". So this is a participle, now, a reduced adjective

  • clause. Okay? "Those aged 18-25 were asked to do this. Those 18-25 years of age were

  • asked to do this." Okay? This is the exact same meaning. "Those aged 18-25", "those who

  • are". Although, technically, "who were" because I used "were" here, but you get the idea.

  • "Those who were 18-25 years of age were asked..." "Years of age". Or: "Those 18-25 years old".

  • Do not mix the two. If you use the word "aged", do not use the word "old". If you use the

  • word "old", do not use the word "aged". They don't go together; it's one or the other.

  • Then you have this one: "18-25-year-olds". Now you're making this whole thing into one

  • noun. Notice here is the "s", no "s" here. Notice you have the hyphen and the hyphen.

  • This extra hyphen is because of the range. If you have only 25-year-olds, that's fine,

  • you still have this hyphen, you still have this hyphen, no "s", "s", and the whole thing

  • is now a noun. So three ways to talk about ages, but do not mix them up. And this is

  • a very common mistake people make on IELTS 1, and this is something that the graders

  • are looking for, because this is somewhat basic knowledge, basic grasp of the language.

  • Now: "percent" and "percentage". People always mix these two words up. What do you need to

  • know about "percent"? "Percent" is an adverb. "Percentage" is a noun. They are used differently.

  • When we talk about percent, we always use it... Sorry, this (%) is "percent" by the

  • way. You can use the symbol, or you can use the word, but don't use both. Always use a

  • number with this word. If you have the word "percent" in your writing, there must be a

  • number before it, otherwise, you're not using it correctly. "10% of the men surveyed said

  • that..." Percentage, on the other hand, means a small chunk of the whole. Right? You have

  • 5%, you have a very small percentage of the whole. You have 95%, you have a very large

  • percentage of the whole. So, let's say 10% is small. "A small percentage of the men surveyed

  • said that..." One thing you have to remember: you're almost always going to use an adjective

  • with this word, because if you don't, if you just say: "A percentage", well 5% is a percentage,

  • 50% is a percentage, 95% is a percentage, so just saying "percentage" alone doesn't

  • really give me much information. You have to say: "A small percentage, a large percentage,"

  • etc. But remember: always a number, never a number with this one.

  • Now, "respectively", this is a very good word to use. Again, people often misuse it. One

  • thing to remember when you use the word "respectively"... First of all, you must have two lists. Okay?

  • You have two lists with equal numbers of items and equal number of items in each list. That

  • means you have to have a minimum two things in the list. You could have many items in

  • the list, but as far as IELTS Task 1 is concerned, I recommend no more than three. Okay? Now,

  • the thing about "respectively", what this word means that the other of the first list

  • matches the order of the second list. So let's look at an example. "I have three kids: Tommy,

  • Jake, and Katy. They are 5, 10, and 7 years old, respectively." Put a comma before the

  • word "respectively". Now, I don't need the "years old", I just put it there to show you.

  • You can take it out, you can leave it in; both okay. This is the first thing in the

  • list, this is the second, this is the third. What "respectively" tells me is that these

  • numbers match the order. So, Tommy is 5, Jake is 10, Katy is 7, respectively. Right? The

  • order matches the order. That's what this word is used to do, to show you that.

  • Lastly, the word "latter" and "former". People sometimes mix these two up. Again, you're

  • going to have two... You're going to mention two things, or two people, or two places,

  • or two anything in one sentence. Now you want to discuss each of these things individually

  • in the next sentence. Okay? So, "latter" means you're referring to the second thing mentioned

  • earlier; "former" means the first thing. So if I take Katy out and I have... I have three

  • kids, Tommy and Jake, the latter... Who is the latter? The latter is 10 years old. The

  • latter is Jake because I mentioned him second. The former, Tommy, is 5. Former - first; latter

  • - second. Okay?

  • These are the words that you must fully grasp to use for the IELTS Task 1. At some point

  • in your practice or official test, you will use half or maybe even all of these words

  • in your task. Okay? Make sure you know how to use them correctly.

  • Also, if you need any more information about IELTS, some more writing tips,

  • check out my site: www.writetotop.com.

  • Of course, go to www.engvid.com, do the quiz on the quiz section of that site.

  • Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, and come back again. Bye.

Hi. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam, and today's lesson is for those of you who

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