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Cambridge IELTS Book 16 Writing Task 1 Test 4

The charts below show the changes in ownership of electrical appliances and amount of time spent doing housework in households in one country between 1920 and 2019. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

This essay question is from Cambridge IELTS 16 Test 1 Writing Task 1.

Percentage of households with electrical appliances (1920-2019)

The first graph shows the percentages of households in a country that owned electrical appliances from 1920 to 2019, while the second graph illustrates how much time the average household spent on housework each week during the same period. Overall, ownership of all three appliances increased, with refrigerators seeing the most significant growth. Meanwhile, the time spent on housework steadily declined.

In 1920, washing machines were the most common appliance, owned by 40% of households. By 2019, this figure had risen to about 75%, despite a slight decline in 1980. Approximately a third of households owned vacuum cleaners in 1920, and ownership rose steadily, reaching 100% by 2000. In contrast, almost no households had refrigerators in 1920, but ownership grew rapidly, with every household owning one by 1980.

On the other hand, the time spent on housework dropped sharply from 50 hours per week in 1920 to 15 hours by 1980. After that, it saw a smaller decline, falling to just over 10 hours a week by 2019. (193 Words)

How to Vary Your Language

 Ownership
→ To Own

      Example: 40% of households in 1920 owned washing machines.

→ To Have
      Example: 40% of households in 1920 had a washing machine

Common Mistakes

You should not assume that the number of hours of household work declined because people bought household appliances. There is no such information in the charts. We can’t exclude the possibility that people bought appliances because they had less time to work in the home.

Overall ownership of all three appliances increased. Accordingly, the amount of time spent on housework decreased.

✓  Overall, ownership of all three appliances increased, while the amount of time spent on housework decreased.

✓  Overall, ownership of all three appliances increased and, at the same time, the amount of time spent on housework decreased.