Comparing two charts

Comparing two charts

Learn how to write about and compare two pie charts.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and tips and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

Comparing two charts

Overall, the two pie charts show that smartphones and tablets are used for the same purposes but to very different extents. 

The first pie chart shows how people spend their time on smartphones while the second pie chart illustrates how time is spent on tablets. For both types of device, the top use is for games, but the figures differ greatly. 57% of the time spent on a tablet is given to playing games, while only 35% of the time spent on a smartphone is used for this. In contrast, smartphone users spend 29% of their time on their gadget accessing social networking sites compared with just 15% of tablet time spent on the same activity.

The third most popular use of the tablet is for consuming entertainment, with users spending 13% of their tablet time watching videos and listening to music. Smartphone users, however, dedicate only 8% of their smartphone time to such entertainment, preferring instead to spend 20% of their time on their phone accessing utilities. These can include maps, weather information and calculators.

There is a clear difference in the way people are using their smartphones and tablets. In general, while tablets are being used more for gaming and other forms of entertainment, smartphones seem to be the preferred option for tasks as well as communication with the world around us.

Please note: This page was designed for writing practice only. Information in the charts may not be accurate.

Tips

  1. Before writing about the detailed figures, give an overview of what the graphs or charts represent.
  2. Say precisely what the data refers to. There is a difference between, for example, a user spending 57% of their time on games and a user spending 57% of their tablet time on games. (You can write % or per cent, but be consistent.)
  3. You don't need to describe all the information in the diagrams. Select the most important things.
  4. Don't repeat vocabulary. Use different words and phrases with the same or similar meanings, e.g. playing games = gaming.
  5. Use similarly, in the same way or also to show similarities.
  6. Use however, in contrast, but, while or instead to show differences.

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Discussion

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Worksheet213.13 KB

Language level

Average: 4.1 (9 votes)

Submitted by Stela Stoycheva on Mon, 01/11/2021 - 16:08

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I have only smartphone, I never had tabled. Other device which I use often is my laptop. I spend my time more common on my phone in social media, which is waste time :/ I use also for paying bills; watching weather forecast; send it text messages in Messenger; watching YouTube... From other device I teaching; watching movies...its more comfortable because the screen is bigger :)

Submitted by Ehsan on Tue, 03/08/2021 - 06:07

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I just have a smartphone. I've not had a tablet.

Submitted by In on Tue, 06/07/2021 - 00:44

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I only have a smartphone. I never had a tablet in my life.

Submitted by Dibesciak on Thu, 22/04/2021 - 18:27

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I never use a tablet in my life but I am using my smartphone a lot. Usually for social media and entertainment. My nieces use tablet very often for watching some educational videos and fairy tales.
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Submitted by Hennadii on Tue, 15/12/2020 - 15:53

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It's hard to compare for me because I don't have a tablet. But if I had, I guess my usage would look the same as in the text. Tablets have bigger screens so it's good to use them for gaming and watching videos. If I had one, I obviously used it to watch movies (maybe not blockbusters but TV show for sure) and perhaps for gaming. Although I'm not a gaming kind of person. Don't have enough time for playing games. But I used to play a lot before my kids were born. As for my smartphone, I use it almost like in the pie diagram from the text: calling, networking (Facebook mostly), using some applications (weather forecast, traffic situation or calling for a taxi), playing several simple games (like three in a row or so).

Submitted by nothing3433 on Sat, 14/11/2020 - 13:24

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I have one device which is kind of tablet and a computer, but I spend more time on It because I have it with me most of time. However, when I need to read a pdf, he is incrideilbe at that because of : the bigger screen, so I choose mine for reading for entertainment and utilities use.

Submitted by Pann Ei on Tue, 10/11/2020 - 10:22

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This learning is very meaningful for me and I improved my writing skills. In addition, I feel more confident before. Thanks for giving me that golden chances.

Submitted by cittàutopica on Wed, 21/10/2020 - 16:34

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I have a smartphone and an Ipad, but I don't use this any more, because it's getting very old and it doesn't work well. I could buy another, but I prefer the smartphone, which is up-to-date. After all I have a notebook also and I use it when I do things that need a bigger screen, as, for example, learning a language, reading or writing some long texts.

Submitted by Ugulhan on Thu, 08/10/2020 - 16:04

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I have only a smartphone which I use daily. I think it is one common consumption for people of technology. Most employees own, and they want to use more their smartphones than their tablets because smartphones are a good communication form. In contrast, tablets are good entertainment for teenagers so they want to spend to listen to music or to download any video streams on their tablets. In the same way, you can use also your smartphone to watch on any video or to listen to music but smartphones are designed more for communication than entertainment. In conclusion, smartphones are the leader in our life. This can be facilitated our communication form if you have been contracting a new company which is located abroad, then it is considered on the first communication tool.

Submitted by mxoubi0 on Sat, 15/08/2020 - 12:53

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Teacher, could we use the : The percentage is 57% of the time for those who use the smartphone while the tablet users spend just 35%.