The Graph Below Shows the Quantities of Goods Transported in the UK Between 1974 and 2002
Written by Lilie
Scored a 7 twice in the writing test
June 6, 2021
The graph below shows the quantities of goods transported in the UK between 1974 and 2002 by four different modes of transport.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
This essay question is from Cambridge IELTS 8 Test 4 Writing Task 1.
Goods transported in UK (1974-2002)
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Sample Essay
The line graph displays the amount of goods shipped in the UK between 1974 and 2002 by four different means of transport.
Overall, road remained the primary way of transport during the 28-year period. It is also noteworthy that shipments increased for all modes except rail, which was essentially unchanged.
The most commonly used way of transport was road, with road freight shipments increasing significantly from about 70 million tonnes in 1974 to just below 100 million tonnes in 2002. In comparison, only about 5 million tonnes of goods were shipped by pipeline in 1974. The number then climbed considerably to approximately 22 million tonnes in around 1995 before staying at this level until 2002.
The volume of cargo transported by water showed a climb from about 40 to 65 million tonnes between 1974 and 2002, with a small dip in 1998. Rail freight shipments also started at roughly 40 million tonnes. After falling to about 30 million tonnes in around 1995, they returned to their original level by the end of the period. (174 Words)
How To Write the Overview
Note that in my overview paragraph, not only did I describe the overall trends (the green), I also compared which way of transport had the biggest figures (the red).
Overall, road remained the primary way of transport during the 28-year period. It is also noteworthy that shipments increased for all the modes except rail, which was essentially unchanged.
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The line chart indicates the quantities of goods transported by road, water, rail, and pipeline over an entire period in the UK.
A very noticeable trend was an increase in the quantity of goods transported by road, water, and pipeline. While the transportation quantity by rail saw a fluctuation over 28 years. The road was always the most popular transportation method, and the pipeline was being used as the least popular one.
The quantity of cargo transported by road saw a slight increase from 70 million tonnes in 1974 to 75 million tons in 1978, then it dropped to the same amount in 1974, after which the trend showed a steady increase to about 82 million tons in 1992. Then, the year to 2002, saw an enormous climb in the quantity of cargo transported to nearly 100. On the other hand, the number of products transported by both water and pipeline, shared a similar increase trend – 39 million tons, 5 million tons, in 1974 to 63 million tons, 21 million tons in 2002 respectively, except a slight decline in the number of goods transported by water from 60 million tons in 1994 to 50 million tons in 1998.
By contrast, the quantity of cargo transported by rail indicates an obvious fluctuation throughout the whole period. However, the lowest quantity of goods transported reached about 20 million tons in 1995, which almost shared a similar quantity of it by pipeline. Finally, a moderate rise can be found in it to over 40 million tones in 2002.
Hey, you wrote “the amount of goods” in the introduction. Is it grammatically appropriate as goods is a countable noun? would not it be the number of goods?
Hi, this short video may help: https://youtube.com/shorts/z4r3l1CA79U
The graph displays four means of transportation to export a million tonnes of commodities in the United Kingdom between 1974 and 2002.
Roads were the primary way of transporting goods, as the graph shows, nearly 70 million tons of goods were transferred by roads in 1974 and that even increased to 100 million tonnes by time going towards the end of the timeframe, though it had a little dip in the 1994s.
Compared to road transport, water holds the second position after roads since almost 60 million tons were transferred in the 1982s, it remained stable until the end of the 90s with a slight drop before it rose once more in 2002.
The rail and pipeline seemed to fluctuate, even though trains transported 40 million tons in 1974 it went down in the 1982s and increased back a couple of years later, but it saw another fluctuation. For pipeline use, it was of no use in the 70s, the UK utilized it as a means of transport by 1982, and that grew to reach approximately 20 million tons until the 90s and stabilized until 2002
Hi, your essay is great. Could you mind checking it out and help me grade it plz
The provided chart gives the breakdown of how many freight shipped in England recorded by 4 distinctive means of transport
It is readily apparent that the quantities of conveyance increased throughout the period shown. Also noticeable is that road was always the most prevailing type of shipping while, pipeline remained the least number of way of shipment.
Looking initially in 1974, the road started well beyond at 70 million, which higher than water and rail by 30 million and approximately 14 times bigger than pipeline. By 1982, both water and pipeline increased by 15 million ( with 55 million and roughly 20 million respectively ). Whereas, road and rail shared a similar trend to decrease, the former dropped to equal the beginning point at 70 million and the latter decrease to 30 million. In 2002, the figure for road saw an upsurge to 100 million and continued to be the majority use of shipment, which was followed closely by water with 60 million. Rail return to their originally level at the beginning with 40 million, which doubled pipeline at the end of the survey
I want a feedback of my writing. Please someone help me. thanks in advance.
The line graph gives information about the number of products transported in Great Britain between the year 1974 and 2002 by four several methods of transport (Road, Water, Rail, and Pipeline). In general, products transported by road achieved the first position by transporting slightly less than 100 million tonnes of products. On the contrary, products delivered by pipeline are at the bottom of the graph with only more than 20 million tonnes of products transported utilizing this method.
To be more specific, goods transferred by water are 2nd in the graph. It experienced an increase in 8 consecutive years from 1974 to 1982. Later that it got into saturation till 1992, and eventually it dropped down again. But after 1998, this method of transportation rose again. In addition, commodities transported by rail were not as popular as road and water. From 1974 to 1985, it kept declining. Following 1985, it witnessed an improvement until 1992. Right after then, its alternation continues.
Interestingly, products transferred by water and rail overlapped once at 40 million tonnes, but then rail behold a surge in the amount of product delivered while rail observed a fall for a long time. Moreover, goods delivered by pipeline were always in an increase. But despite this increase, it still holds the bottom position in the graph.
Hi Lillie! Me again. Do you think it’s OK if I use ‘road-freight shipment’ instead of ‘road-freight shipment’?
Hi Silver, did you make any typos? The two quoted texts are exactly the same.
OMG, yes! My question is if I can use ‘road-freight shipment’ instead of ‘road freight shipment’. I feel it more natural to add a hyphen, but I’m not sure.
Try to interpret it as “shipments of freight by road.” That is, the parts that are most strongly connected are “freight” and “shipments,” and “road” modifies that combination. “Freight shipments” could also be sent by rail or some other means. But there shouldn’t be hyphens. Hope this helps.
Would love to get some feedback on my variant of the answer.
The line graph illustrates the number of goods transported in the United Kingdom using four different modes of transport from the year 1972 to 2000.
Overall, road and water transport have been the most popular as majority of the goods were being transported through them throughout the time period. On the other hand ,rail and pipeline were least preferred as they carried a relatively lower load throughout.
Roads have been transporting the highest volume of carriage in comparison to all the other modes since the inception of the time frame as they carried approximately 78 million tonnes of goods in 1972 and also have seen a progressive growth in this volume over time as they peaked at just below 100 million tonnes by the year 2000.Similarly,water-ways carried around 40 million tonnes in 1972 and saw an overall upward trend till 2000 where they transported around 61 million tonnes of freight.
Railways started with 40 million tonnes in 1972 and have had a stable volume of goods transported with a slight downward trend till 1992 but then again picking up to 40 million tonnes by the year 2000.
Pipelines were the least popular mode of transport as they had less than 5 million tonnes of goods transported in 1972 after which they experienced slow growth till the year 1992 to about 20 million years, this trend has been stable since
I have noticed that you separated the different lines into one group, rather than writing in a timeline, which I had never thought of it before!
this is my writing, and it is still really too many words, I don’t think I have enough time to finish such an essay in the examination.
The line chart compares the numbers of goods transported by four different means of transportation in UK from 1974 to 2002.
Overall, It is clear that transporting cargos by means of the road was by far the most popular means in UK throughout the period shown. Furthermore, while the quantities of goods transported by road, water, and pipeline increased steadily, the figure for railway transportation was essentially unchanged.
In 1974, the quantities of goods transported through road and pipeline were around 70 million tonnes and 5 million tonnes respectively, compared to roughly 40 million tonnes for water and rail transportation. Over the following 4 years, while the numbers of goods transporting by road and pipeline grew gradually, reaching approximately 75 million tonnes and 9 million tonnes respectively, the figures for water and rail transportation only saw a negligible change in the number of goods, still at around 40million tonnes.
from 1978 to 1991, the trends for road and pipeline transportation showed a stable increase in the number of goods, to about 80 million and 18 million tonnes. interestingly, there was a jump of near 20 million in the volume of goods transported by ships within only 4 years from 1978 to 1982, to around 60 million tonnes, which followed by a leveling up from 1982 to 1992. but the figure for the railway had dropped to less than 35 million tonnes in early 1991. By 2002, goods transported by cars, ships, and trains saw a similar upward trend, to near 100 million tonnes,65 million tonnes and 40 million tonnes respectively. By contrast, the figure for pipeline still at a low level, to around 20 million tonnes at the beginning of 2002.
I think the biggest reason you wrote so many words is that you mixed the four categories together instead of describing them only one at a time. When you mix them together, you have to say “the number of goods transported by X” again and again. Also, you actually lose marks by giving such a detailed description because the task only asks you to report the MAIN features. Compare how you described water shipments with how I described them.