The charts below show the percentage of food budget the average family spent on restaurant meals in different years. The graph shows the number of meals eaten in fast food restaurants and sit-down restaurants.
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Sample Response
The given illustration compares the amounts spent on restaurant foods and on home cooking foods in four different years and gives data on the number of meals eaten in two different restaurant types. As is presented in the pie chart, initially in 1970, 90% of total food budget was spent on home-made foods while only 10% was spent on restaurant foods. The amount spent on restaurant meals increased to 15% in 1980 while it reached to 35% in 1990. Finally, in 200, an average family spent half of the total budget in restaurant meals and that shows a rapid increase in the people’s habit of having meals in restaurants. In the line graph, we can observe that in 1970, the fast foods and sit-down restaurant meals were taken 20 thousand times each and over time these numbers kept increasing. Finally, in 2000, more than 90 thousand fast food meals were eaten while the sit-down restaurant meals were eaten 50 thousand times a year. This indicates the changes in people’s habit of eating out and the popularity of restaurant foods over the home-made foods. In summary, over the 30 years’ time, people adopted the habit of eating out at restaurant and sit-down restaurant gained more popularity over the fast food shops.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use chart terminology Original: foods Suggested revision: meals Why it matters: The chart measures spending on restaurant meals, not restaurant foods as a product category.
- 2. Use natural noun phrase Original: home cooking foods Suggested revision: home-cooked food Why it matters: “Home-cooked food” is the natural expression for food prepared at home.
- 3. Add definite article Original: 90% of total food budget Suggested revision: 90% of the total food budget Why it matters: The specific total budget shown in the chart requires the definite article.
- 4. Remove extra preposition Original: reached to 35% Suggested revision: reached 35% Why it matters: “Reach” takes a direct object and is not followed by “to” here.
- 5. Correct final year Original: 200 Suggested revision: 2000 Why it matters: The final pie chart is dated 2000, not 200.
- 6. Correct spending preposition Original: in Suggested revision: on Why it matters: Money or a budget is spent on something, not in it.
- 7. Use plural habits Original: This indicates the changes in people’s habit Suggested revision: This indicates changes in people’s habits Why it matters: The general behaviour of multiple people is naturally expressed with the plural noun “habits”.
- 8. Use plural reference Original: illustration Suggested revision: charts Why it matters: The task contains several pie charts and a line graph, so a plural reference is required.
- 9. Report percentages Original: amounts Suggested revision: percentages Why it matters: The pie charts show percentage shares of the budget rather than monetary amounts.
- 10. Use natural category phrase Original: in two different restaurant types Suggested revision: at two types of restaurant Why it matters: This phrase describes the two restaurant categories more naturally.
- 11. Use concise chart reference Original: As is presented Suggested revision: As shown Why it matters: This is a more concise way to refer to information in a chart.
- 12. Remove redundant marker Original: initially in 1970 Suggested revision: in 1970 Why it matters: The first year already makes the starting point clear.
Suggested Rewrites
- foods meals
- home cooking foods home-cooked food
- 90% of total food budget 90% of the total food budget
- reached to 35% reached 35%
- 200 2000
- in on
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response clearly reports the steadily rising restaurant-budget share and communicates the broad increase in both meal series. However, it omits the intermediate line-graph figures and ends with the inaccurate claim that sit-down restaurants became more popular, despite fast-food meals rising much higher by 2000; the final fast-food figure is also overstated. Prioritise an accurate overview comparing the two lines, including their crossover and widening gap.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The budget percentages and broad trends are reported, but key line-graph comparisons are omitted and the final popularity claim reverses the visual evidence.
State that sit-down meals initially led, fast food overtook them by 1990, and the gap widened to roughly 85 versus 50 meals in 2000.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response follows the two visuals in a generally clear sequence, though repetitive transitions and a contradictory final summary weaken progression.
Use one focused overview before separate detail paragraphs for the budget shares and restaurant-meal trends.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient range for describing changes and proportions, but several collocations are unnatural or imprecise.
Replace phrases such as "meals were taken" and "restaurant foods" with precise alternatives such as "meals were eaten" and "restaurant meals."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied sentence structures convey meaning clearly, although article, preposition, agreement, and word-form errors recur.
Check articles and fixed prepositions in phrases such as "at restaurants," "spent on restaurant meals," and "reached 35%."
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The charts below show the percentage of food budget the average family spent on restaurant meals in different years. The graph shows the number of meals eaten in fast food restaurants and sit-down restaurants.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.