Starting your essay

The graph shows figures forThis report describesAs can be seen in the table/graph/pie chart,According to the graphSpanning half a century from to is detailed in this reportThe table shows the different ways in which As can be seen in the graphThe graph and bar chart show the numbers of people whoIt shows the amount and the total amount of The figures show thatThe (chart) gives information about sth in terms of the different levels of/ reasons for/ Categorized by gender/employment status Categorized according to

Talking about time/ periods

Over a period of (2 years) During this 5year periodfrom..to.Between and

DuringInOver

The firstThe followingThe nextThe final

10 years

and subsequently untilover this periodSince then + present perfectFinally And subsequentlyAfter thatThenAnd by 2000 during the 60s and 70s until the early/mid/late 1930s .In the meantime,

at which point there was a decline..But following that there was a During the following decadeAnnuallyWere first recorded

Increases and decreases

decrease substantially have fallen significantly decreased dramatically There has been a gradual decreaseHave shot up from approximately and topped There is a dramatic fall..Rise steadilyRemain stableDrop significantlyThey experienced a dramatic increaseHave gradually fallenThere were some fluctuationsThere was a marked increase in the numbers of And has remained stable/constantWhich had a downturn of about The greatest proportional rises can be seen in the Increased threefold/fourfold There was a significant increase to (number)There was a gradual rise until with a peak in followed by a steady decline to just under Rose rapidly from in . to a plateau of around in between andThe number rose to . Shot up to over Reaching a peak of during the 60s and 70s but declined to around in Visits to UK where double the number of visits abroad by UK residentsthe figure almost doubled to around There was a steady fall in (the number)After this there was a slight but steady decrease Rose only slightly .. reaching a plateau of around from to But following that saw a steady decline to around Experienced an upward/downward trend

Referring and Comparing

Whereas In contrast to this The second most favoured The latterThe trend for is similar The general trend is similar They are between three and seven times more frequentThe numbers of both kinds of have risen, with being the greater.Apart from Except forConcerning theAnd by 2000 it was the second most popular when the figure almost doubled to around .is the most popularcompared toIn. and in the proportions are quite different.In both theses cases about two thirds of Experienced a rapid rise in the reaching and , respectively by 2000. differs from the other in that is the greatest, followed by with have shown different patterns

Tops and bottoms

and topped at with a peak in They appear not to exist at allReaching a peak ofWhen it plungedreach an all time low/high of They reach a peak atwhen after hitting a peak of just under experienced a (similar) boom inAre relatively few numbering a mere ( small number)

Stability

where/When it remained stable from to When it reached a plateau of during the 90sappears to have remained fairly constant

Expressing reason

Due to Because ofOn account of

Generalizing

It seems that overall The average number..1,2,3, all had high numbers/ percentages of No other changes were recordedAll five The five countries included are: In general, the total sth increased until , at which point there was a reduction in the due to/ because of But the general trend was an increasing one.

Getting close to numbers

ApproximatelyWas just under/overIn the region of of/to around atover three quarters/two thirds/ three fifths of was almost double the amount ofAre relatively few numbering a mere ( small number)

Others

Males and females both experienced an upward trend reaching 70 and 80 hours of work respectively.

Assumptions

It is obvious/it is clear /it is apparent that We can assume/We can predict/we can project that