HOW TO TALK ABOUT A VISUAL AID 1.
Cho Ch oosing the righ ghtt visual aid
A fow chart is a diagram A pie chart displays the A (vertical or horizontal) bar showi howing ng the the prog progrress ess of size (taille) of each part chart is us used ed to comp compar are e materia materiall throug through h the steps as a percentage of a unlike ( unlike (diferent ) items (étapes) of a manufacturing whole (un tout ). ). process ( processus processus) or the successio succession n of operations operations in a complex activity
A convenien ientt line chart depicts A table is a conven chang hanges es over over a peri period od of way to show large time ime, showing ing data and amount of data trends (données, inormations ) in a small space
!.
A diagram is a drawing showi sh owing ng arra arrang ngem ement ents s and and situations, such as networks (réseaux) , distribution, uctuation ...
"resenting a graph
Introdction #his graph "how" ...
Topic !ircm"tance" the results of our over 1$ years. products ... #he diagram otline" ... rates of economic growth ... between 1 % %$ and 1%%&. #his table li"t" .. ... the top ten agencies ... in the industrial world. #his pie chart repre"ent" the company's turnover ... for this year in our sector. #his line chart depict" .. ... the changes in sales ... over the past year. #his chart sales of each during the past ten brea#" down the (ventile) ... salesman ... wees. 3.
#he four basic trends (tendances) are • • •
upward movement downward movement no movement
How to talk about visual aids
page 1
•
change in direction or
How to talk about visual aids
page 2
4.
*ndicating upward movement
Verb" Tran"iti%e (to) increase (to) raise (to) pushputstep up (to) extend, (to) expand
5.
$on"
Intran"iti%e (to) increase (to) rise (rose, risen) (to) gobe up (to) grow (to) extend, (to) expand (to) progress (to) boomsoarclimb (to) /ump, (to) syrocet (to) reach a pea, (to) pea (to) reach an all0time high
*ndicating downward movement
(an) increase (a) raise (+), a rise (+-) (an) upswing (a) growth (an) extension, expansion (a) progression (a) boom (a) /ump (a) pea
Verb" Tran"iti%e (to) decrease (to) cut, (to) reduce
$on"
Intran"iti%e (to) decrease
(a) decrease (a) cut, (a) reduction (fall, fell, (a) fall
(to) fall (o) fallen) (to) plunge, to plummet (to) drop (o) (to) go down (to) decline (to) collapse (to) slump, (to) go bust (to) bottom out 6.
*ndicating no movement
(a) plunge (a) drop (a) downswing (a) decline (a) collapse (dramatic fall) (a) slump
Verb" Tran"iti%e (to) eep ... stable (to) hold ... constant (to) stabilize 7.
$on"
Intran"iti%e (to) remain stable (to) stay constant (to) stabilize
stability
*ndicating a change of direction or ... Verb"
Tran"iti%e (to) level o
How to talk about visual aids
$on"
Intran"iti%e (to) level oout, to atten out (to) stop fallingrising page 3
(a) levelling0o (a) change
(to) stand at
How to talk about visual aids
(to) remain steady (to) stop falling and start rising (to) stop rising and start falling
page 4
2.
*ndicating the degree or the speed of change
%.
3escribing the elements of a graph
Loo# at the graph and write the appropriate letter" in &ront o& each de'nition ( the horizontal axis ( or the x axis) a solid line the vertical axis (or the y axis) a broen line the scale a dotted line
1$. Analysing an example #he x axis of this graph shows the twelve months of the past year while our sales in millions of dollars appear on the y axis. *t may be seen clearly that sales rose steadily in the 4rst half of the year (from 5anuary to 6ay) and reached their pea in 5une. #hen they dropped o in 5uly and levelled out in August. After rising sharply during eptember, they suered a dramatic (spectaculaire) fall in 7ctober but then made a "igni'cant ( sensible) reco%er) How to talk about visual aids
page 5
(redressement ) in 8ovember. 9owever, the year ended with a slight downturn.
How to talk about visual aids
page 6
D*S!+IBI$, ,+A-HS A$D T+*$DS .*/*+!IS*S 01 $A2* (
3O+2 (
DAT* (
042atch each "entence below with one o& the &ollowing graph"
1. !. ;. =. >.
#he investment level rose suddenly. #he sales of our products fell slightly in the 4nal :uarter. #he $ per cent of the present level. #he price reached a pea before falling a little and then maintaining the same level. &. #here has been a steady increase in costs over several years. ?. #he sudden collapse in share prices has surprised everyone. 2. #he value of the shares has shown a steady decline.
54 Loo# at the graph below6 then complete the "entence"4
1. #he ............................................... compares three products A, @ and C. !. #he ............. shows time over ten years while the ............. shows sales in number of units. ;. As you can see, product A is represented by the ............................................... =. #he performance of "roduct @ is shown by the .............................................. >. And a . has been used to show the results of "roduct C. &. Clearly, ................................... is the most successful product .................................... ?. ales of "roduct @ .......................... in recent years while sales of "roduct C ...................... 2. 7n the contrary, product A has shown a .................................................. How to talk about visual aids
page 7
D*S!+IBI$, ,+A-HS A$D T+*$DS .*/*+!IS*S 51 $A2* (
3O+2 (
DAT* (
74 +ead the &ollowing te8t and draw the corre"ponding graph on the right4 #he graph opposite covers the years 1%?& to 1%%>. *t shows that the number of television viewing hours rose steadily and steeply during that period in the +, starting at /ust under > hours a day to reach more than ? hours in 1%%>. #here was a slight increase in 1%2! and sharper falls in 1%2& and 1%%1. #he next decrease, in 1%%=, is hardl) (à signi4cant. peine) #hough we do not have the latest 4gures, it is unliely that the trend will have reversed.
94 !omment on the graph below "ing and organi"ing the &ollowing e8pre""ion" ( ales rose went up increased climbed ... B adverb (slowly steadily rapidly gradually ...) ales stood at ... ales peaed peaed out ales levelled out attened out ales bottomed out #his was due to ... #his was the result of ... #his caused ... #his led to ...
A%oid repetition" : !onclde b) "a)ing whether thi" graph i" t)pical or not; <"ti&) )or an"wer4
How to talk about visual aids
page 8
