Lesson 4 — See & Say

IELTS Task 1 Comparing Data · B2 · Lesson 1 of 3 (Set 2)

What you'll be able to do by the end of this lesson: look at a chart with two or more things on it, and say how they compare in three different shapes — comparative (A is higher than B), superlative (A is the highest), and proportion (A is twice as much as B). One fact, three sentences. That's how Band 7 writers describe bar charts and pie charts.

Look at each chart. Pick the right comparison.

No tricks — just match what you see to the comparison phrase. Click an answer to check.

Chart A — Coffee sales by city, 2024 (£m)

Which sentence is correct?

London had the highest sales.

London had more highest sales.

London was most higher.

London (£60m) vs Leeds (£35m) — pick the best comparison.

Leeds was slightly higher than London.

Sales in London were considerably higher than in Leeds.

London is the same as Leeds.

London (£60m) vs Bristol (£58m) — pick the best comparison.

London was much higher than Bristol.

London was only slightly higher than Bristol.

London was twice as high as Bristol.

Chart B — Pets owned in a UK survey (% of households)

Dogs make up 50%. Pick the proportion phrase.

a quarter of

half of

three-quarters of

Cats make up 25%. Pick the proportion phrase.

half of

a quarter of

a third of

Dogs (50%) vs Cats (25%) — pick the best comparison.

Dogs were slightly more popular than cats.

Dogs were twice as popular as cats.

Cats were the most popular.

Three ways to compare any two numbers

For every fact in a chart, you can write it three ways. Mix all three in your essay and you tick the box for grammatical range and lexical resource in one go.

Type	Pattern	Example (London £60m, Leeds £35m)
1. Comparative	A was [adv] [adj-er / more adj] than B	London was considerably higher than Leeds.
2. Superlative	A had the [adj-est / most adj] [noun] of [the group]	London had the highest sales of the four cities.
3. Multiple	A was [almost / nearly / exactly] [twice / three times] as [adj] as B	London was nearly twice as high as Leeds.

The four proportion phrases (for pie charts especially)

Number	Phrase 1	Phrase 2
50%	half of	accounted for 50%
25%	a quarter of / one in four	made up 25%
33%	a third of / one in three	accounted for around a third
75%	three-quarters of / three in four	made up the majority, at 75%
10%	one in ten / a small minority	accounted for just 10%

Watch out — common B2 errors:
❌ more higher than → ✅ higher than (or much higher than)
❌ the most highest → ✅ the highest
❌ twice more than → ✅ twice as much as (or double)
❌ less people → ✅ fewer people (countable nouns take fewer)

Mini-quiz — write all three for: Bristol £58m vs Hull £20m

1. Comparative: Bristol was significantly higher than Hull.

2. Superlative: Hull had the lowest figure of the four cities.

3. Multiple: Bristol was almost three times as high as Hull.

Now you try — Cats 25% vs Fish 15%

1. Comparative: Cats were considerably more popular than fish.

2. Proportion: Cats made up a quarter of pets, while fish accounted for just 15%.

3. Multiple: Cats were well over one and a half times as popular as fish.

How big is the gap?

Pick the right modifier for the size of the difference. If the gap is huge, use far or much. If it's tiny, use slightly. Get this wrong and the comparison sounds weird to the examiner.

Tiny gap (~1–5%)

slightly · a little · marginally

A was slightly higher than B.

Medium gap

considerably · significantly

A was considerably higher than B.

Big gap

much · far

A was far higher than B.

Multiple (2×, 3×…)

twice · three times · nearly four times

A was twice as high as B.

Match the size of the gap to the right modifier

1. France 30% vs Germany 31% — which modifier?

slightly higher

far higher

twice as high

2. Spain 80% vs Italy 20% — which modifier?

slightly higher

a little higher

four times as high

3. UK 60% vs USA 40% — which modifier?

marginally higher

considerably higher

three times as high

4. Tokyo 45m visitors vs Osaka 22m — which modifier?

marginally higher

roughly twice as many as

slightly more than

5. Wine 12% vs Beer 50% — which modifier? (beer is bigger — describe the gap)

slightly more than

far more popular than

a little more than

6. "There were _____ people unemployed in 2020." If the figure dropped, the right word is:

less

fewer

lower

Apply it — describe this bar chart

Read the paragraph and choose the right word for each gap. Try to use a mix of all three comparison shapes.

Average weekly hours spent on activities by UK teenagers, 2024

Social media 28h · Studying 14h · Sport 7h · Reading 3h

Word bank — five of these fit, one does not: the most · twice as many · far · a little · the least · significantly

1. Of the four activities, social media took up time, at 28 hours per week.

2. Teenagers spent hours studying as they did doing sport.

3. Time spent reading was lower than time spent on any other activity.

4. Studying took up more time than sport — 14 hours compared to 7.

5. Reading came in last, with time of all four activities.

1. the most

2. twice as many

3. far

4. significantly

5. the least

Notice the mix: superlative (1, 5), multiple (2), big-gap modifier (3, 4). All three shapes in one short paragraph.

Now say each fact a DIFFERENT way

Original: "Teenagers spent twice as many hours studying as doing sport." — Rewrite as a comparative.

Studying took up considerably more time than sport. (Or: Teenagers spent far more time studying than doing sport.)

Original: "Reading came in last, with the least time." — Rewrite as a comparative.

Reading was far lower than every other activity. (Or: Far less time was spent on reading than on any other activity.)

The compare drill — flip the comparison

Ten cards. Read the left side, cover the right, say (or type) the comparison the OTHER way around (or in a different shape), then reveal. Aim for 8 out of 10 before moving to Lesson 5.

Comparative

London was higher than Leeds.

Flip it

Leeds was lower than London.

Multiple

Dogs were twice as popular as cats.

Flip it

Cats were half as popular as dogs.

Superlative

Reading was the lowest activity.

As comparative

Reading was lower than every other activity.

Proportion

Cats made up a quarter of all pets.

In numbers

Cats accounted for 25% of all pets. (or: One in four pets was a cat.)

Comparative

France was slightly higher than Germany.

Flip it

Germany was slightly lower than France. (Tiny gap → keep "slightly".)

Multiple

Sales in Tokyo were three times as high as in Osaka.

Flip it

Sales in Osaka were a third of those in Tokyo. (or: only one-third as high as.)

Superlative

Social media took up the most time.

As comparative

Social media took up far more time than any other activity.

Proportion

Three-quarters of households owned a dog.

In numbers

75% of households owned a dog. (or: Dogs were owned by 75% of households.)

Fix it

"Bristol is more higher than Hull."

Correct

Bristol is much higher than Hull. (Drop "more" before "higher" — "higher" is already comparative.)

Fix it

"There were less students than last year."

Correct

There were fewer students than last year. ("Students" are countable → "fewer".)

Done. Go to Lesson 5.

Now move to Lesson 5 — Transform. You'll get tested cold (no tables, no word bank) and then put it into a real chart description.