IELTS Writing Task 1: verb tenses

Let's have a look at the different verb tenses that I used in last week's answer.

Present simple - to describe what the graph shows us now

• the line graph compares
• a strong correlation is suggested (passive)

Past simple - to describe past years e.g. 2000 to 2011

• prices of both oil and food rose
• the trends for both commodities were very similar
• the average global oil price was close to $25
• the food price index stood at just under 90 points
• both prices remained relatively stable
• the average oil price rose once again
• the food price index reached its peak
• a dramatic increase in both commodity prices was seen (passive)

Past perfect - to describe what happened before and up to a past time

• By 2007, the average oil price had more than doubled
• and (by 2007) food prices had risen by around 50 points

Past perfect and past simple in the same sentence

• By the beginning of 2009 the price of oil had dropped by roughly $90, and the food price index was down by about 80 points.

Comments

[Arman]

The last sentence makes a little confusion to me. Can anyone explain why the 2nd part second part is past simple (passive)?

[Minh Tan]

Who's can say the different between (1) Past perfect - to describe what happened before and up to a past time and (2)Past perfect and past simple in the same sentence ? Thanks a lot.

[sjm]

Arman and Minh Tan

I explained this previously.

Firstly, 'was down' is not passive. 'Down' is not a verb.

Secondly, the word 'by' means up to and including. When we refer to 'before and up to' we use past perfect, but when we look at 'including' we use simple past. In other words, when we mean 'Before the beginning of 2009' we use past perfect, and when we mean 'At the beginning of 2009' we use simple past. The word 'by' includes both of those times.

[Sarker]

Just awesome...Thanks a lot..

[Puta]

Dear Simon,
Should I read your own task 1 essay first and then I write mine, or I write one first to compare it with yours?
Thank you so much..

[Lindsay]

Hi Simon,
Could you explain whether we should use singular form or plural form when describing what the chart shows in general?

Here are some examples from your blog.

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2017/01/ielts-writing-task-1-pie-chart-answer.html
The pie chart compares figures for visitors to four categories of tourist attraction and to five different theme parks in Britain in 1999.
(figures, plural)

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2016/09/ielts-writing-task-1-separate-line-graphs-answer.html
The line graphs show the average monthly amount that parents in Britain spent on their children’s sporting activities and the number of British children who took part in three different sports from 2008 to 2014.
(amount, singular)

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2016/11/ielts-writing-task-1-more-overview-practice.html
The graph below shows the amounts of waste produced by three companies over a period of 15 years.
(amounts, plural)

Thank you

[Lucas Jonathan]

How could we define or tell a replacement of buildings in a quarter? My last IELTS (03.06.2017) was about replacement building. It showed to plan redevelop a region. I could give details via e-mail. I could not upload picture there.

[Firdavs]

Hello guys!
I have taken IELTS Academic on 20 May and my results are (L-7.5, R-7, S-6.5, W-6, Overall Band=7). But my speaking should be at least 7. If anyone want to practice speaking please text me. My e-mail: fira.rahmonov@gmail.com

[Kelvin]

Dear Simon

First, I'd like to express my sincere thanks to your whole-hearted efforts to post tremendously useful lectures

Secondly, I am confusing about tenses used in task 1. Can we use past simple for cases which happened in the past, regardless of any points of time?

Thanks
Kelvin

[Alice Zheng]

Hi guys,
I had a problem.
"It is clear that average global prices of both oil and food rose considerably between 2000 and 2011."-wrote by teacher Simon.
--Why use"rose" but not "had risen",for my understanding,it happened before and up to a past time period.And not just happened in a certain past time.
Thanks a lot for answering my question.

[Ali Karimi]

dear Simon
when it comes to dealing with IELTS exam I always appreciate your job and method.
I wonder if you could put the category of The Cambridge series books(1-12)and describe and answer writing part comprehensively as well as other skills .I recon that for reading part the best bet is to produce more videos which are very informative .unless some more videos were produced, we wouldn't learn perfectly in this respect.
i have bought and watched your videos in this blog many times but I believe they are not sufficient for the english lovers
thanks for the good job you have already done
this is Ali( allen) from Iran
truly yours

[SC]

What about if we are give "before" and "after" time period? It is certain that for "before" we will use past tense , but what tense for "after" ? Present ? or past only?

[spring zhang]

Dear Simon, I got a question, in the summary paragraph, if the time frame is from 1998-2040, if i want to describe the overall trend, what should I dO?