IELTS-A Task 1 Vocabulary—Common Errors (fluctuate, respectively, number, amount, sales)

hi I'm Adam welcome to another session of write to the top in today's video I want to look at the IELTS academic task 1 of the writing section what we're going to look at specifically are misused vocabulary items okay these are words that are very common to the IELTS task 1 section but they're very commonly misused or either the person doesn't know what they mean or they don't exactly understand the situations in which to use them specifically I'm talking about these words fluctuate respectively a mountain number and the word sales now you might think a lot many of you will think well these are very easy words right well not necessarily ok now before we I get into it the main reason I'm doing this is because I know that almost every IELTS teacher will tell you to use the words fluctuate and respectively and every IELTS book you study if you're doing self studying will tell you to use these words they're very common words for the IELTS task one especially for line and bar graphs tables charts etc so it's very important that you know how to use them correctly now it's better not to use these words at all than to use them incorrectly because you're not going to impress the graders by using them correctly but you are going to capture their attention by using them incorrectly so let's start with the word fluctuate first of all what does fluctuate mean it means to change directions often to go up down up down so you don't have a consistent pattern it could be side to side as well but again as long as they're in consistent movement up and down it's very important to remember you have to have at least two ups and two downs in order for something to fluctuate okay so in this graph I have sales let's say I'm looking at a graph of sales you're talking about money talking about time I have a span so I'm gonna also give you a few other words by the way that you can use in this task one you have a span which means the entire time or the entire period of the graph let's say 40 years span divided into five year intervals interval is a very good word to use in this section when you have time pieces basically is what interval means so every five years you have a number so sales are going up sales are going down up down up down up down that is clear fluctuation fluctuate verb fluctuation noun okay using them a sentence sales fluctuated over the span of the graph over their whole period of the graph period you can use with a period or without though there was an overall increase of nearly 400% so we started at one finished at five so overall you had a about a 400% increase at their peak peak is a very another useful word for the for this for the infographics peak means the highest point so the peak is right here at six and whatever unit of measure using billion dollars trillion yen whatever unit of measure don't forget to include the unit of measure okay now here's what we get into problems okay overall sales increased over the span of the graph period there though there were minor fluctuations from 1980 to 2000 so this is 1980 this is 2000 let's say a lot of people say that like let's say you have like a three other graphs right you have this graph and this graph and that graph and that graph the blue one people are going to say oh this the sales of the blue graph showed fluctuations but they didn't not entirely not for the whole span overall sales increased from the beginning of the time period let me just erase these other ones they're a little bit messy here now from this period to this period you have an increase the only time that you see fluctuations are right in the middle so there was a period of minor fluctuations not big changes small changes from 1980 to 2000 let's say okay and that's what you're looking at here don't say there were fluctuations in this for this particular line of the graph okay now another thing I want you to remember just because everybody else is using the word fluctuation and your teacher told you to use the word fluctuation it doesn't mean that you don't have other options okay so overall sales increased though there were some volatility in the 80s and 90s volatility basically means unsteady time right so it's very similar to fluctuate if you use volatility you'll impress the graders more than if you use fluctuate correctly okay now here's another problem situation a lot of people will say that there were sales fluctuations here as well but again there is actually no fluctuation in sales sales are going up up up up up up up up every interval shows an increase so there was a steady increase all the way up but what is changing what is fluctuating is the rate of that change right in the first period is going up kind of quick in the next one it slows down still going up but this the increase is smaller the next one a little bit higher the next one this is the fastest increase right so the rate of increases change changes so overall sales consistently increase over the span of the graph period though the rate of increase fluctuated increased fast increased slow increased fast increased slow that's what you have to be careful it's not the sales it's the rate now here again remember what I said before about fluctuations you should have at least two changes at least up down up to make it a fluctuation here you only have one you're going up up up and then here you have one drop and then going back back back up what would you call this you can call it a minor fall a minor decrease here's a good worthy blip nobody uses this word if you can use it correctly a little bit more impressive for the graders okay a blip means a short anomaly in a trend a short upward or downward movement to break the norm the norm the trend the pattern etc overall sales increased steadily over the span of the graph period though there was a minor downward blip from 1990 to 1995 during that one interval use blip good word now let's get to respectively a lot of you have seen this word a lot of you have tried to use it many of you misuse it or use it incorrectly or don't exactly know how it works but respectively basically means that you're putting things in a list and then you're reflecting on that list in the same order okay so the same items figures etc in the same order mentioned previously so we're going to look at production of gold silver and platinum I think and what we're going to concentrate on this part of the graph okay so both gold and silver reached peak production in the 90s which is this graph at five point five and three point five trillion tons respectively so we're talking about the peak here in the peak here of gold and silver I mentioned gold first and I mentioned Gold's number first three point five I mentioned silver second I mentioned Silver's number five point five second now the reason I want to do this is so I don't have to say I don't have to say three or trillion tonnes twice I can say it once make sure that you know that the order I'm giving you the numbers is the same order as that the items I'm talking about gold first three point five silver second sorry Gold five point five silver second three point five another thing and a lot of people forget this notice I have the comma before respectively at the end of the sentence okay or even in the middle of the sentence because you're separating it to show it respectively I'm showing you that the numbers and items match in order when you have a list now if you're not sure about the word respectively you're not sure how to use it you're not sure when to use it don't use it don't for words into your writing because somebody told you that they need to be there if you don't know how to use it don't use it you'll you'll lose a lot more points using it incorrectly than not using it at all okay if you're not sure it just spell it out the 90's witnessed peak production for both gold five point five trillion tons in brackets or for gold at five point five trillion tons in commas and silver at three point five trillion tons say the item say it's numbers say the next item say it's number safe is better than wrong okay so that's respectively a few other things and these should be pretty straightforward amount amount we use with non countable items number we use with countable items it's very simple at this level if you're writing the IELTS test you should already know this make sure you don't mix these two up rate use the word rate people don't use this enough when you're talking about a change increase decrease etc talk about a rate you don't always have to talk about specific numbers level level high level low level we're talking about something on a scale okay it's not big or small it's high or low if you're talking about levels of things and use the word total especially use it as a verb instead of using the be verb something is something something and something totaled something else let's look at some examples the amount of interested participants in the event grew every year since surveys were first taken so right away any mistake here well yeah participants are countable you can count how many people came so the correct were to be the number of interested participants next the amount of interest in the project interest is an idea it's a concept you can't count it and therefore the amount of interest although it's correct you would say level because it's a scale high interest low interest remember amount correct level better okay the number of interest groups so the types of groups are the interest reflect law hobby groups groups is countable number is okay looking to sponsor the event grew accordingly as did the amount they were willing to invest now some of you might think amount is incorrect it's fine amounts we're talking about quantities of money money uncountable the amount humm how much money each person is ready to invest and your clue here is the word invest you invest money money is uncountable use amount ok so now let's look at rate and total I want you to start using these words because they're very effective although the amount of hybrid cars again remember cars countable so you want to use the word number on the roads as increased significantly the amount of this increase is only about 2.5 percent annually now again technically the amount because you're talking about a percentage amount is technically correct but you have amount two point five percent annually within a period of time annually every year so in this case what you have is actually a rate the rate of this of this increase is only about so much for so much time okay this is a small number dot for example SUV registrations in 2016 were thirteen thousand thirteen thousand is a total use the word totaled totaled thirteen thousand the number of SUV registrations isn't really anything it's just SUV registrations they totaled a certain number a certain total actually now if you can remember and use it correctly use amount as a verb SUV registrations in 2016 amounted to thirteen thousand amounted to totaled same thing synonyms okay so you can use ammount as a verb which nobody does extra points from the graders because you have good vocabulary range good lexical resource now sales people think well yeah I know what sales are sales are how much money you make right but sales have two meanings one is the actual transaction customer gives money vendor gives product right so there's an exchange there's a transaction that situation is called a sale sale could also mean excuse me can also mean the actual value the money value of the transaction so sales could be two things and people often makes these two up so let's look at this little table here we're talking about each year okay so you can year one you have ten sales the average of each sale was $10 for a total of or day one not the year one was $100 day two 10 sales 10 actual transactions $5 each $50 in total sales okay now keep in mind the transaction can be sale and the value is always sales when you're talking about money always with the S when you're talking about transaction can be singular or plural so then you have the rest of the table so the number of sales doubled in the third year and then retreated in the last so the number of sales went from 10 to 20 and then or 10 10 and then retreat it went backwards so this is a very good word as well retreated when you're talking about going backwards in your scale of whatever thing is going on the average amount of each sale remain at a steady $10 so now I'm using amount because I'm talking about the value the money value of each sale of each transaction okay so here sale is transaction amount is the dollar value make sure you separate the two things except for the downward blip sales fluctuated over the span of the graph actually it's not a graph it's a table but that's okay we'll leave that totaling 150 200 and 115 year 1 2 3 & 4 respectively so I'm using all the expressions in one shot as an example okay and another one no let me just give you erase this sales fluctuated over the 4 years in question with a low of $50 and a high of $200 and years 2 & 3 respectively and that's another example of how to use these words okay and there you have it sales totaled amount number etc respectively fluctuated exactly and that's all there is to it so if you have any questions about this you can ask me in the youtube comment section again remember forcing words just because you think they're going to impress the graders will probably hurt you more than they will help you so make sure you know the words a hundred and ten percent or don't use them use something else to use another expression another way of giving your ideas okay if you like this video please give me a like and don't forget to subscribe to my channel and come back for more videos on vocab grammar writing tips tests tips etc okay see you soon

Channel: Write to the Top

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Keywords: IELTS, English writing, English, writing, language test, English test, vocabulary, word choice, how to write, test preparation, test tips, study tips, pass the IELTS, IELTS high score, language skills, common errors, Task 1, line graph, how to write a report, how to summarize, how to use, better writing, writing skills, how to write in English, IELTS high band, IELTS writing, IELTS Task 1, IELTS strategies, IELTS band 7+, high band score, band 9, academic vocab

Id: UDEM-T7QmzQ

Length: 16min 49sec (1009 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 04 2018