Task 1: Body Paragraphs and Grouping

What the body paragraphs are for

The overview makes a claim. The body proves it with figures.

You have two body paragraphs and roughly 110 words for them. That is not enough to describe everything, which is the point - it forces you to decide what belongs together.

Grouping is marked under Coherence and Cohesion, and it is the difference between an answer that reads as an argument and one that reads as a spreadsheet read aloud. Two answers can contain identical figures and sit two bands apart purely on how those figures are arranged.

Four sectors, two paragraphs

Before reading on, decide how you would split these four lines across two paragraphs.

Three ways to group

Pick whichever the data makes obvious. Only one of them is usually right for a given chart.

1. By behaviour - the most common. Everything that rises in one paragraph, everything that falls in the other. The chart above is built for this: services and technology together, manufacturing and agriculture together.
2. By size. The large categories in one paragraph, the small ones in the other. Use this when everything moves the same way and only the scale separates them.
3. By time phase. The first half of the period in one paragraph, the second in the other. Use this when the whole chart changes direction partway through - a steep rise that flattens, or a fall that reverses.

The same four sectors, arranged two ways

What the grouped version gained

• It can use comparison inside a paragraph - at very different speeds, the fastest growth on the chart. The ungrouped version has no opportunity for this, because it never puts two sectors side by side.
• It can carry a contrast between paragraphs - The declining sectors mirrored this links paragraph four back to paragraph three. That is cohesion, and it is marked.
• It distinguishes absolute from proportional change: services added more percentage points, but technology grew far faster. Noticing that difference is a band 7 to 8 move.
• It uses fewer figures - eleven against twelve - while saying considerably more.

Which group goes first

• Lead with whatever your overview led with. If the overview says the striking thing is the collapse of manufacturing, the falling group belongs in paragraph three. The body should follow the order the overview set up.
• Otherwise, largest first. The sector, country or category with the biggest share is the natural starting point.
• Keep each group intact. Do not return to services in paragraph four after covering it in paragraph three. Once a category is done, it is done.
• Two paragraphs, not three. If you find yourself needing a third, your grouping is too fine - merge two of them.

A quick test before you write

Say out loud: Paragraph three is about... and paragraph four is about.... If you can finish both sentences with a category name rather than a list of items, your grouping works.

If the honest answer is paragraph three is about the first two lines and paragraph four is about the other two, you have not grouped - you have simply split the chart in half.

Where to go next

• The paragraph that decides your grouping: Writing the Overview.
• Vocabulary for describing each group: The Language of Change.
• See grouping inside three complete answers: Task 1: Line Graphs.
• Linking paragraphs together: Linking Words for Paragraphs.